My first assignment has been quite interesting! I am working to develop content for electronic patient visits, or "eVisits" for short.
What is an eVisit?
It's a structured interaction between a patient and a physician, which takes place over the computer. Epic users can log in to their medical record, and send a message to their physician describing a health concern. The physician receives an electronic message and responds accordingly.
Sound worthwhile? There is pretty compelling data to suggest that patients want to have the opportunity to seek treatment from their physician online. There is also support for the concept within the medical community. According to the Future of Family Medicine task force, up to 40% of office visits could potentially be managed electronically. This would save time for the patients, cut costs, and free up physician time for other activities.
Certainly, there is complexity involved on several levels.
Should the physician be reimbursed for this service? Absolutely! Some of the forward-thinking third-party payors are beginning to pay for eVisits, but there is a long way to go to make this part of the mainstream coverable services from all the major providers.
Is this service secure? We have techies working on that.
Are eVisits efficient and effective? That's where my role comes into play. The ideal eVisit will be focused on a defined topic, and collect enough information for the physician to make a clinical decision in a single exchange. If it requires more than one e-mail exchange to resolve the eVisit, then it is no longer convenient for the patient or the doctor. So, my role is to design the questionnaires for specific topics. The goal is to ask all the necessary questions to confirm the suspected diagnosis, and make sure something worse isn't happening, but to keep the questionnaire short enough that the patient can finish it comfortably.
Designing eVisit questionnaires is a fun challenge. It combines medical knowledge, clinical experience, decision-making, and technology. And, it is an important innovation which will move medicine forward in new directions in the years to come!
Most of my first seven weeks has been invested in training... a long story in itself. I'll describe that process in another entry in a week or two.
Friday, May 21, 2010
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Why Quit Medicine?
I am frequently asked this question... why quit medicine?
The answer is, I didn't 'quit' medicine. I made the decision to pursue a lifelong passion for technology, and its applications to improve health care delivery. It wasn't a decision to 'quit', per se, but to move forward.
As a high school student, I debated between three potential career choices: becoming a doctor, a computer programmer, or a high school chemistry teacher. The chemistry teacher option was quickly ruled out- it just seemed like it would quickly become the same thing, year after year- plus, the other options paid better.
I was still in the process of deciding, when the opportunity presented itself to apply for the combined 6-year BS/MD program at Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine (NEOUCOM). The challenge of the program was appealing to me, and the invitation to reserve a slot in medical school was too tempting to pass up. Medical school admission was pretty competitive back then, or so it seemed, so at the tender age of 16 I committed to the medical school path and I hit the ground running!
From high school to medical school, medical school to Family Practice Residency. As a resident, I developed a passion for teaching, and decided to pursue this as a career. I completed a one year academic family medicine fellowship after residency, earning a Masters' degree in Education, then joined the faculty at Wright State University School of Medicine.
For 18 years, I practiced, and taught, Family Medicine. It was a most enjoyable career! The blend of seeing patients, teaching students, and doing some research proved to be stimulating and challenging. But, through it all, my passion for technology never waned- in fact, it grew stronger every year.
That passion led me to develop the Computers in Clinical Medicine elective for 4th-year medical students. Over a 10-year period, roughly 150 medical students worked with me to learn about the applications of computer resources to the patient care arena. In 2007, we implemented our first ambulatory EHR, and the benefits of technology became even more apparent!
The decision to transition to a full-time career in the computer industry began late in 2006. For many years, I had attended the meetings of the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA), where geeks like me hung out on an annual basis to examine uses for technology in medicine. After the 2006 meeting, I felt the deep desire to make this aspect of medicine more than just a hobby- to make it a career! I pursued additional informatics training, first at the NLM Woods Hole course, and then through the AMIA 10X10 program, and finally decided to begin examining the job market!
Long story short- I was very blessed and very excited when Epic posted a job description for the Clinical Informatics role. My experiences with developing, using, teaching, and evaluating technology resources with students made this a perfect fit for my skill set. In addition, Epic is a very stimulating and positive work environment, not to mention a strong player in the EHR industry with a very stable market position and a very positive outlook for the future.
So... I found a very stimulating job, pursuing my passion, in a great working environment. I honestly didn't 'quit' medicine... I fulfilled a lifelong dream to pursue a new challenge, in a way that will improve the practice of medicine for physicians and for patients for the rest of my career and beyond!
Charles Barkley, noted NBA analyst, hall of fame player, and amateur philosopher, once stated, "Any knucklehead can score." Well... in my more cynical moments... I feel that "Any knucklehead can see patients... but it takes a special kind of knucklehead to improve the practice of medicine."
The answer is, I didn't 'quit' medicine. I made the decision to pursue a lifelong passion for technology, and its applications to improve health care delivery. It wasn't a decision to 'quit', per se, but to move forward.
As a high school student, I debated between three potential career choices: becoming a doctor, a computer programmer, or a high school chemistry teacher. The chemistry teacher option was quickly ruled out- it just seemed like it would quickly become the same thing, year after year- plus, the other options paid better.
I was still in the process of deciding, when the opportunity presented itself to apply for the combined 6-year BS/MD program at Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine (NEOUCOM). The challenge of the program was appealing to me, and the invitation to reserve a slot in medical school was too tempting to pass up. Medical school admission was pretty competitive back then, or so it seemed, so at the tender age of 16 I committed to the medical school path and I hit the ground running!
From high school to medical school, medical school to Family Practice Residency. As a resident, I developed a passion for teaching, and decided to pursue this as a career. I completed a one year academic family medicine fellowship after residency, earning a Masters' degree in Education, then joined the faculty at Wright State University School of Medicine.
For 18 years, I practiced, and taught, Family Medicine. It was a most enjoyable career! The blend of seeing patients, teaching students, and doing some research proved to be stimulating and challenging. But, through it all, my passion for technology never waned- in fact, it grew stronger every year.
That passion led me to develop the Computers in Clinical Medicine elective for 4th-year medical students. Over a 10-year period, roughly 150 medical students worked with me to learn about the applications of computer resources to the patient care arena. In 2007, we implemented our first ambulatory EHR, and the benefits of technology became even more apparent!
The decision to transition to a full-time career in the computer industry began late in 2006. For many years, I had attended the meetings of the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA), where geeks like me hung out on an annual basis to examine uses for technology in medicine. After the 2006 meeting, I felt the deep desire to make this aspect of medicine more than just a hobby- to make it a career! I pursued additional informatics training, first at the NLM Woods Hole course, and then through the AMIA 10X10 program, and finally decided to begin examining the job market!
Long story short- I was very blessed and very excited when Epic posted a job description for the Clinical Informatics role. My experiences with developing, using, teaching, and evaluating technology resources with students made this a perfect fit for my skill set. In addition, Epic is a very stimulating and positive work environment, not to mention a strong player in the EHR industry with a very stable market position and a very positive outlook for the future.
So... I found a very stimulating job, pursuing my passion, in a great working environment. I honestly didn't 'quit' medicine... I fulfilled a lifelong dream to pursue a new challenge, in a way that will improve the practice of medicine for physicians and for patients for the rest of my career and beyond!
Charles Barkley, noted NBA analyst, hall of fame player, and amateur philosopher, once stated, "Any knucklehead can score." Well... in my more cynical moments... I feel that "Any knucklehead can see patients... but it takes a special kind of knucklehead to improve the practice of medicine."
Monday, May 3, 2010
Greetings
Hello, and welcome to my new blog! Starting my new Epic adventure is an exciting transition in life. So much of our lives in Ohio were centered around friends, family, colleagues, and students... so much we feel as though we're leaving behind as we move forward!
But it is the 21st century now, and in the Cyber world you never really leave people behind- we are blessed with the ability to stay connected through the Internet. Many of my friends and family have expressed interest in my new adventure. How's the job? What will you be doing? What is Madison like?
So, here's the place for your updates. Stay tuned as the Journey unfolds!
But it is the 21st century now, and in the Cyber world you never really leave people behind- we are blessed with the ability to stay connected through the Internet. Many of my friends and family have expressed interest in my new adventure. How's the job? What will you be doing? What is Madison like?
So, here's the place for your updates. Stay tuned as the Journey unfolds!
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