I recently had to replace my smartphone. At the store, I spoke to the salesperson who told me about all of the new camera features—lens, pixels, etc. Externally, I was nodding and smiling. Internally, I kept thinking, “I just want to take pictures of my kids and dog.”

Maybe that’s the way you feel about health IT. Externally, you smile and nod when the definitions begin. Internally, you’re thinking, “I just want my job to be easier, faster, more efficient. ”Whether you’re into the technical or just want the promised seamless integration to actually be seamless, Krames has you covered. We can geek out over the latest FHIR technical update and we also pay attention to what it really means for both clinicians and patients.

We’ve been dedicated to improving patient engagement for more than 40 years. We’ve turned to SMART (Substitutable Medical Applications, Reusable Technologies) and FHIR (Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources) to help us create seamless, on-demand information exchange.

Improving data interoperability to create connected health 

Nearly one-third of hospitals and health systems report that their interoperability endeavors are insufficient, even within their own health organizations.¹ Like every industry, health care is managing more data than ever. Plus, there’s a  growing number of technologies that gather and store this information. The challenge now is to make these different sources of data—from hospitals, clinicians, health plans, patient portals, databases, and increasingly, patients—effectively talk to one another. FHIR is one way to establish data source access standardization. It saves time on the often-burdensome steps to mine big data, access patient records (providing a comprehensive picture of the patient’s health record), and make recommendations for more intelligent tools and materials that are always up to date and in line with current best practice standards.

Krames has used the SMART on FHIR^® framework to build our latest generation of patient education applications. That means when our Krames On FHIR^® application is launched, it retrieves information about your patient’s conditions, medications, and procedures while also presenting relevant education resources customized for that patient’s needs. We make it easy to find and deliver the right patient engagement tools, while also posting back into your EHR details about the shared patient education materials. It also securely reads patient data and writes it back into the EHR to meet regulatory requirements. This saves you time and helps develop a more informed patient.

Constant updates and upgrades engage patients across health care settings

Much like a smartphone, Krames On FHIR regularly upgrades and enhances features for its users. From our experience with FHIR implementations across 60+ U.S. hospitals to date, we’ve expanded Krames On FHIR to meet the different use cases across health care settings. 

• Patient portal plug-in—Allows patients to access the education content shared with them by clinicians from Krames On FHIR in a more optimized experience. Closes the communication loop back to clinicians and care team by reporting to Krames On FHIR (in the activity history) on the status of the patient activity for shared items.
• Emergency department workflow—Patients treated in an emergency department receive suggested patient education depending on clinical impressions, which are based on information and a clinical assessment. 
• Ambulatory workflow—Patients treated as outpatients receive patient education focused specifically on the current encounter for which they’re receiving treatment. 
• Telehealth workflow—Integrates patient education into its telehealth workflow using the Epic telehealth module.

The results you want: More knowledgeable, engaged patients; faster, more effective workflows 

Much like your smartphone camera captures the split-second image of your daughter kicking the soccer ball into the goal, FHIR instantly mines data so that clinicians can see the perfect picture of their patient and recommends tools to meet that patient’s unique needs.

With Krames as your patient engagement partner, it’s as simple as pointing and clicking—and letting us take care of bringing the images (patient history and recommended tools) to life.

Creating this robust patient picture enables you to provide:

• Relevant, understandable education that can be accessed long after the clinical visit through a patient’s desktop, tablet, or smartphone
• Increased access to engaging, interactive information to help people better understand their health care issues
• High-quality digital and print resources, developed with the science of behavior change, to help individuals become proactive in managing their own health
• Tools to connect patients with their clinicians in order to continue the conversations and care beyond the clinical setting

Krames On FHIR integrates into the EHR platform and delivers award-winning Krames On-Demand^® educational handouts and videos at the point of care, saving time for clinicians and creating a more personalized user experience.

When patients get smarter information, they can use it to make smarter health care and lifestyle choices—and become more engaged in their health. That means you can expect to see better outcomes.  

Reference

1 Jason C. 4 interoperability pillars driving data access, outcomes in 2020. EHR Intelligence Website. https://ehrintelligence.com/news/4-interoperability-pillars-driving-data-access-outcomes-in-2020. November 26, 2019. Accessed December 11, 2020.