Jeff LevinScherz, MD Chief Medical Officer Partners Community HealthCare, Inc jlevinscherzpartners'o

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Jeff Levin-Scherz, MDChief Medical
OfficerPartners Community HealthCare,
Incjlevinscherz_at_partners.org617 278 1010
Strategies and Tools to Engage Physicians in IX
Initiatives
Information Therapy Conference Sun Valley,
UT September 26, 2006
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Hierarchy of Needs What do Physicians Want?

• Respect
• Autonomy
• Income
• Support
• Decreased hassles
• Ability to do good (Beneficence)
• Work-Life balance

How can adoption of Information Therapy help
physicians achieve these goals?
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First, a word from the cynics

• Its hard enough to keep up with the phone
  messages. If I open one more door to my
  patients, my life will be unbearable.
• I do so much non-clinical administrative work
  now. Isnt this just a way of eliminating
  support staff and making me do all the work?
• Will I lose the easy office visits, and
  therefore lose income or increase my workload?
• I dont touch-type
• Patients are likely to have unreasonable
  expectations
• There are few resources for good patient
  information, and these are not updated regularly

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Selected Elements of Information Therapy at
Partners

• Patient information available through Partners
  Handbook
• Patient Gateway
• Appointment request
• Secure email
• Laboratory reporting
• Prepare for Care
• Other functions
• Primary Care Office Insight (PCOI)
• Patient instructions integrated into radiology
  order entry

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Partners Handbook Portal to accessclinical
contentincluding information therapy
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Partners Handbook Can search for patient
education information from multiple content
providers
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Partners Handbook All patient education
information can be printed at the point of care
and handed to patients. No automatic charting
of distribution of this material
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LMR Partners Electronic Health
Record Provides automatic link to Patient
Gateway, and i buttons to access just in time
clinical information
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Patient Gateway Allows patients to access
med and allergy list and problem list (and
request appts, refills and referrals)
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Patient Gateway Secure clinical messaging
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Patient Gateway Allows patients to
self-service access to clinical information
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LMR Allows viewing of imaging reports and
actual images
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LMR Can chart phone call with three clicks
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LMR Allows simplified letter generation
letters can be pushed through patient portal or
snail mail
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PCOI Generates patient education information
personalized for medical group
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Radiology Order Entry Generates patient
instructions automatically
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Shared Decision-Making Videos MGH pilot of
allowing MDs to do two-click ordering of
decision-making tools
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Challenges to Physician Adoption

• Inertia
• Training deficits
• Integration of systems
• Lack of meaningful incentives

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Challenges to Organizational Adoption

• Financial resources
• Competing priorities
• Leadership investment
• Business model challenge

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Back to the hierarchy

• Respect
• Autonomy
• Income
• Support
• Decreased hassles
• Ability to do good (Beneficence)
• Work-Life balance

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Conclusions
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Now a word from the enthusiasts

• The first day we implemented the EMR, I went
  home an hour earlier
• Now I can get my patients information about
  their lab tests much more easily
• We are better able to answer our phones and
  handle routine administrative tasks
• I can better engage my patients