The Importance of Physician Collaboration and Communication

I stumbled upon an interesting study that was recently conducted by Drs. Ann O'Malley and James Reschovsky titled:

Referral and Consultation Communication between Primary Care and Specialist Physicians. Some of the interesting results from the study are:

‘69.3% of primary care physicians reported “always” or “most of the time” sending notification of a patient history and reason for consultation to specialists, but only 34.8% of specialists said they “always or “most of the time” received such information.’

Ironically…

‘80.6% of specialists said they “always” or “most of the time” send consultation results to the referring primary care physician, but only 62.2% of primary care physicians said they received such information.’

What this tells us is that there is a large gap in the communication lines between primary care physicians and specialists where critical information is slipping through the cracks. One might assume that this could result in compromised level of care for the patient and in fact, according to the study, ‘physicians who did not receive timely communication regarding referrals and consultations were more likely to report that their ability to provide high quality care was threatened.’

With communication and collaboration becoming increasingly important in healthcare, yet privacy issues sitting at the forefront of the dilemma, a tool that enables more effective communication while keeping patient data secure is demanded by today’s healthcare professionals. Conex Med/Pro System’s HIPAA complaint web-based communication tool is being used by a variety of organizations in the healthcare space to alleviate the pain associated with ongoing physician-physician and physician-patient communication that is critical to raising the bar on the quality of care.

To learn how Conex can play an integral role in your organization, contact us today.