Reports From the Field

An eConsults Program to Improve Patient Access to Specialty Care in an Academic Health System

Journal of Clinical Outcomes Management. 2020 May;27(3):115-122 | 10.12788/jcom.0008

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Current Status and Future Directions

Our future plans include continuing to optimize the Epic eConsult backend build and workflows using our experience in Allscripts. We have implemented eConsult workflows for use by graduate medical education trainees and advanced practice providers, with attending supervision. Further work is in progress to optimize these workflows, which will allow for appropriate education and supervision without delaying care. Furthermore, we plan to expand the program to include inpatient-to-inpatient and emergency department-to-inpatient eConsults. We will continue to expand the eConsults program by offering additional specialties, engage providers to encourage ongoing participation, and maximize PCP use by continuing to market the program through regular newsletters and email communications. Finally, the eConsults has served as an effective, important resource in the current era of COVID-19 in several ways: it allows for optimization of specialty input in patient care delivery without subjecting more health care workers to unnecessary exposure; saves on utilization of precious personal protective equipment; and enhances our ability to deal with a potential surge by providing access to specialists remotely and electronically all hours of the day, thus expanding care to the evening and weekend hours.

Acknowledgment: The authors thank our steering committee members (Dr. Ralph Cygan, Dr. Andrew Reikes, Dr. Byron Allen, Dr. George Lawry) and IT build team (Lori Bocchicchio, Meghan van Witsen, Jaymee Zillgitt, Tanya Sickles, Dennis Hoang, Jeanette Lisak-Phillips) for their contributions in the design and implementation of our eConsults program. We also thank additional team members Kurt McArthur and Neaktisia Lee for their assistance with generating reports, and Kathy LaPierre, Jennifer Rios, and Debra Webb Torres for their guidance with compliance and billing issues.

Corresponding author: Alpesh N. Amin, MD, MBA, University of California, Irvine, 101 The City Drive South, Building 26, Room 1000, ZC-4076H, Orange, CA 92868; anamin@uci.edu.

Financial disclosures: None.