How direct messaging can help improve your patient care

Interoperability, or the ability to exchange information with other providers is
routinely discussed as one of the biggest challenges facing our increasingly digitized and fragmented healthcare system.

So what’s being done to increase collaboration between practices?

Ideally, providers would have tools to collaborate dynamically on a single networked patient record. We’ve written about
Elation’s Patient Longitudinal Record (PLR) — a collaborative health record that can be accessed and edited by anyone caring for a patient (You can also read more about how it works with our step-by-step guide in the
Help Center).

But we’re not limiting our investment in interoperability to features inside our platform. We want to help our providers to receive digital patient charts from other EMR systems — in a seamless, and structured way.

That’s why we’re rolling out a new feature in Elation, direct messaging.

Direct messaging, also simply referred to as DIRECT, is a safe and secure way for providers to engage in point-to-point communication and share patient data with providers in other EHRs. It’s a valuable tool that promotes interoperability in a world of siloed healthcare data.

Direct messaging provides the next best thing to real-time collaboration — an up-to-date snapshot of the patient chart with an accurate picture of what’s going on with a patient right now. With DIRECT, providers can send and receive messages with providers in other practices and automatically import patient information into their charts with the click of a button.

How exactly does direct messaging work?

To send a direct message, you’ll first need to obtain a DIRECT address. Once you’ve created your unique address, using direct messaging is as easy as sending an email, except these messages are encrypted so that sensitive data is only sent and received by authorized parties.

There are many reasons a practice may choose to use DIRECT.

• DIRECT can help practices cut down on the costs of faxing and mailing patient health information.

• Direct messaging with Elation is easy to use. Unlike other interfaces, there is no extra training that is involved and Elation’s support team is always ready to answer any of your questions along the way.

• Practices can enhance their productivity with DIRECT. Staff no longer have to take out extra time from their day to make copies or coordinate calls to ask questions.

• Exchanging health information is more secure than before. DIRECT has the security measures in place to allow for safe and secure messaging. DIRECT also makes it easy for practices to stay HIPAA-compliant.

Most importantly, DIRECT offers physicians who are inside its
accredited network of participants a standardized way to communicate and exchange information so that they can deliver high-quality care.
One study found that timely access to patient data led to reductions in cost and improvements in quality. Therefore, easily connecting and accessing patient data allows providers to better coordinate care.

Elation is working on releasing its DIRECT feature in the coming months. As with the rest of our
clinical EHR, we’re committed to creating a direct messaging interface that’s intuitive, easy to use, and allows you to deliver phenomenal, patient-centered care.

Interested in learning more about DIRECT?
Chat with one of our practice specialists!