Nemours manages care at home through a single digital platform 

Photo: Geber86/Getty Images

Nemours Children's Health System, which provides care for children up to age 18, has more than 1.8 million patient encounters each year across five states. 

With a majority of patients receiving care for complex medical conditions, Nemours needed a way to provide diverse medical information to patient families beyond the walls of the hospital.

Nemours extended the medical home using a single, digital platform that united the Care Connect telehealth platform, its KidsHealth family-friendly health content, the patient portal with access to medical records, appointment scheduling, questionnaires and other provider communication. 

Families engage with the platform through the Nemours app. It was rolled out midway through COVID-19.

The platform was invaluable during the pandemic in its use of telehealth visits. 

"For routine things, it does provide a mechanism for care and solutions," said Gina Altieri, executive vice president, enterprise chief communications officer for Nemours Children's Health System. "It also provides information on when a patient needs to come in."

For instance, through video, clinicians could see how a child's scar after surgery was healing. If they noticed an infection, the child was brought in immediately, rather than waiting for the next in-person visit, which would not be a good thing, Altieri said.

"We knew we were doing the right thing and moving in the right direction," Altieri said. 

Altieri was instrumental in building the Nemours' EMR platform and worked to achieve HIMSS Stage 7 designation. 

She will speak during the HIMSS21 annual conference on "Extending the Medical Home With a Single Digital Platform" at 11 a.m., Tuesday, August 10, at Caesars, Alliance 315. 

The digital platform has helped patients, families and providers. Patients can enter data on what's occurring between visits on their mobile devices. Providers feel the platform is a useful tool in creating a one-stop shop to communicate with their patients through the portal, text or video visit.

Health systems wanting to take the same journey can leverage existing technology to improve care and cost efficiency, Altieri said. But she admitted that building the infrastructure was complicated and expensive. It began with having a lot of health content.

"We spent a fair amount of time gathering that data," she said.

Building the platform also exposed issues. Not everyone was ready to use a digital solution or had equal connectivity with providers. 

Altieri believes what has made a difference was creating the platform in-house and having content specific to children, rather than outsourcing the telehealth option.

"The value we have is, we did it with our providers," Altieri said. "It's not perceived as coming between them and their patient."

Providers have embraced the platform and patients have given the app 4.8 stars out 5 stars in patient satisfaction.

Long-term, being able to extend the medical home through a single, digital platform is helping to move the health system towards value-based care.

"As we think about value, full-risk contracts," Altieri said, "it's helping to manage the care without coming into the ER or doctor's office." 

Twitter: @SusanJMorse
Email the writer: susan.morse@himssmedia.com