Winter 2013 Issue

Advances in technology over the past decade have significantly shifted the way we live our lives and do business. The more we adoptt new technology, the better we are able to work on our tasks, decrease errors and increase speed. Health care is no different. According to Manhattan Research, a health care market research firm, devices such as tablet computers and smart phones are being adopted quickly by doctors who use them in the hospital, at their clinics, and at home.

There has been a lot of debate about the new Affordable Care Act. This article explains the new law, its goal, and its impact on various groups. In a nutshell, the new law creates a nationwide health insurance system to help all Americans get coverage. The government will subsidize the new insurance coverage by expanding its Medicaid program to individuals who can’t afford insurance. It also provides subsidies to some businesses for insuring their workers. The goal is to extend insurance to more than 30 million people who are currently uninsured, thus sharply reducing the number of Americans without coverage.

With all the talk about cost savings in health care, it is sometimes easy to overlook the crucial role that nurse triage plays in ensuring that patients receive care when they need it. Triage nurses play an important role in determining which callers need further assistance. The benefits of nurse triage in preventing unnecessary emergency room visits are often highlighted; however they play an even more crucial role in ensuring that people get help when they need it. This role deserves further attention by our policy makers, healthcare advocates, and health centers.

One of the nation’s top ranking children’s hospitals with its own nurse triage center was recently approached by a large physician practice that they serve. The physicians wanted to be able to receive text messages from the call center nurses regarding their patients; however, the messages needed to be secure and HIPAA-compliant, which is not standard for smartphone text messaging.

A good way to ensure that customers are happy is to do a survey of past callers. A survey is important because it allows the center to receive direct feedback and ensure that patients will call again next time they need help. The best way to do a survey is to call back a percentage of past callers chosen randomly and ask them questions about the call.

TriageLogic announces a new feature that enables their triage nurses to send secure, encrypted and HIPAA-compliant text messages to the on-call providers. The on-call provider receives the encrypted text message and is able to decrypt it securely and see the entire message..

TriageLogic announces a new software module for its Call Center Solution™ software that allows its nurse triage centers to integrate with electronic health records of each practice that they serve. The module is a secure, HIPAA- compliant, real time, two-way communication between the call center software and multiple client systems.

 

TriageLogic's sophisticated call center software technology allows for real-time data collection and reporting, and It can be a valuable early warning system for communities. In addition the system can track data such as: caller ZIP Codes to look for pockets of disease, patient demographics (such as age and gender), and the number of callers sent to the ER to assess severity of illnesses in concentrated areas.

 

TriageLogic heads Dr. Charu Raheja and Dr. Ravi Raheja attend various health conferences as resource speaker and sponsor.

 

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