Digital Minute: 2023 Year-End Edition

By Walter Reiling, MD, system chief medical information officer, Premier Health; and Mandy Via, system director of access, referral management, and telehealth, Premier Health

As we close out an incredibly successful 2023, we want to take a moment to thank all the Premier Health provider community members who helped improve our technology. We have had a host of people give us their time and expertise on committees, which provided invaluable insight into how we need to adapt to our user and patient needs. We have had countless individuals take the time to report problems or suggest possible improvements. Taking that time makes things better for all of us, and it is much appreciated.

This year, digital health and technology has contributed to projects bringing more than $70 million of value to the system at the close of October.  In addition, Wayne HealthCare joined the Premier Health Community Connect Program in September. Having Wayne HealthCare share our Epic instance allows the continuation of the highest quality care at their facility while seamlessly integrating records for our shared patients. Earlier this year, we implemented the Cupid module in Epic to integrate cardiovascular care and the transition to the Epic Hyperdrive architecture that will open the door for usability enhancements for years to come.

Looking ahead to 2024, you should expect two or three Epic upgrades, bringing new usability and quality enhancements.  Next year, areas of focus for digital health and technology will be around augmenting patient experience tools, expanding our research capabilities, increasing interoperability with other Epic and non-Epic EMRs, and continuing attention to cybersecurity.  A truly exciting area will be the exploration of the use of Generative AI technology in health care. This is commonly seen in tools like Chat GPT. Applications are being developed to aid in provider documentation to enhance the efficiency of information review in records and increase the ease of communication with patients.

Back to the December 2023 issue of Premier Pulse