allow the entry or transfer of
visit-related patient information
into the office’s records to
better prepared the HCP for
the exam visit. These systems
also provide information to the
patient, sometimes based on
the information they submitted,
which educates them about
their complaint and suggests
questions they should ask their
HCPs so as to get greater benefit
from the visit. While you can see
how these PoC engagements are
effective in the office, it is not
hard to fathom how these could
be further integrated with mobile
phone apps and geo-location and
personalization technologies to
customize an experience before
the patient gets to the doctor’s
office, resulting in their being
even more prepared, and the exam
having an even better outcome.
In the exam/ hospital stay phase
of the care flow, the electronic
medical record (eMR), with
its corresponding ePrescribing
and practice management
components, has emerged as
both the bane and boon of an
improved point of care, until
the technology, and the HCP’s
skill in seamlessly handling it,
evolves, as it will. While the
downsides of these point-of-care
tools have been their distraction
and inflexibility relative to HCP
requirements, they still hold
out the promise of reduced
errors, improved information
sharing and transparency, and
improved provision of post-
exam compliance aids. Along
with eMR, and often on the same
device, there are a number of
patient education and compliance
platforms and protocols
developed to assist the HCP in:
1) maximizing patient (and even
caregiver) understanding of their
symptoms, diagnosis and therapy,
and 2) improving their confidence
and motivation to comply towards
an improved health outcome.
Hensley Evans of ZS Associates
says “It will be interesting to see
how eMR companies evolve to
capitalize on the opportunity to
integrate more of these PoC aids
into their user experiences.”
While point-of-care
tools [have their
downsides], they
still hold out the
promise of reduced
errors, improved
information sharing
and transparency,
[and] improved
provision of post-
exam compliance
aids.
In the post exam/compliance
period, point of care moves to
the pharmacy and the home,
where support is provided by the
pharmacy, hospital discharge team
and communications follow-ups
and technologies, which improve
compliance and outcomes after
patients leave. After engaging
the pharmacist, there are
follow-up communications and
interventions by various players
from manufacturers, to the
payor to pharmacy, to even the
hospital, which prompts patients
to follow through in filling their
prescription or scheduling their
follow-on appointment, whichever
that next critical care step is.
Analog and digital information
services, given at the pharmacy
counter and by the hospital
discharge team, provide drug-specific information which
offers additional education
to the patient. There are also
compliance services across all
relevant channels, from phone and
text messaging to mobile alerts
to email, direct mail and even
home visits (in some cases) which
extend the point of care beyond
the physical HCP visit.
We are also seeing these services
provided to caregivers in instances
where their support is critical
to the patient’s health outcome.
These have become especially
convenient with the adoption of
mobile technologies, but they still
caution us in the areas of privacy.
I often muse that most patients,
and especially men, care for
themselves more because of their
wives’ and daughters’ influence
than anything else. This being as
it is, caregivers are a significant
opportunity for greater leverage at
PoC.
Additionally, serving as PoC aids
across this entire continuum, there
is a growing number of mobile/
wearable technologies which
track patient progress, encourage
compliance, and, in some cases,
