Many changes in technology, health policy, and healthcare finance are changing the way PCPs interact with their patients. Within the last two to three years some doctors and patients began to communicate over email. Then communications went mobile, with text messages including reminders sent to patients, while patients were sending biometric data to providers via mobile devices. With the explosion of social media tools this new means of connecting doctors and patients continues to evolve offering new, and innovative ways for providers to interact with their patients, specifically those with chronic illnesses. These different communication methods will enhance and support providers efforts to better manage their patients. At the same time, federal and state government agencies, and health plans have developed healthcare performance measures to measure the effectiveness of providers including: Meaningful Use measures, HEDIS®, PCMH accreditation measures, and Pioneer ACO quality measures. These measures have led to increased demand to capture details of patient encounters which may not always appear in claim submissions and are often hard to find in medical records, whether electronic or paper.
Some of these interactions may actually involve details relating to certain measurable hybrid performance metrics. Those might include weight counseling, anticipatory guidance, etc. It will be critical for providers and health plans to devise processes to ensure that these critical interactions are captured and reported on. The consistent and accurate reporting of these events have a financial impact on both the provider, and in many cases the payer.
Federal and state Agencies, accreditation entities, such as CMS, AHRQ, NCQA, URAC, and the National Quality Forum, to name a few, should explore new ways to allow measure specifications to include these data. Specifications should be less restrictive, where evidence of video chats, text and email messages and secure communications via patient/provider portals count towards the numerator of the measure.
