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Continuum Medical Care
Redefining the Model of Full-Service Family Medicine
Electronic Medical Records Solution Transforms Healthcare Delivery and Physicians' Lifestyles
Background
Continuum Medical Care, established in 2005, offers access to a comprehensive range of public and private healthcare services in a state-of-the-art medical facility in West Vancouver, B.C. With more than 35,000 patients and 30 family physicians and specialists, Continuum is one of the largest medical practices in British Columbia.
Continuum aims to offer patients all the benefits of the public healthcare system, with the option to complement their coverage with services not covered by the medical services plan, such as corporate and advanced preventative examinations, travel medicine and cast services, cosmetic services and diagnostic testing.
Challenges
Continuum's model - bringing a variety of skilled and experienced medical practitioners and services together into a single facility to provide seamless delivery across a complete spectrum of healthcare needs - is rooted in the increasing dissatisfaction that doctors were having in trying to deliver full-service family medicine in a system that did not reward this type of care financially.
The goal of the Continuum model is to make it viable, financially and from a lifestyle perspective, to attract and retain family physicians who can deliver excellence in full-service medical care.
Solution
To maximize the performance of its internal operations, Continuum implemented an electronic medical records (EMR) system that enables physicians and staff to track, monitor and manage patients' clinical information.
The system enables physicians to access patient records, enter notes or order lab tests or prescriptions at bedside or in exam rooms, using a wireless tablet PC, for example, or perform many non-billable tasks from home such as charting and writing referral letters by accessing the EMR system via the Internet.
With physicians who have different charting styles being brought together into one location, the EMR system presents information such as allergies, medical problems, medications and recent visits in a consistent, standard way. The EMR system is also integrated with a drug interaction database.
The system automates an array of clinical and administrative functions. For example, referral letters, with all the accompanying background information, are automatically generated using the patient visit notes from within the system and directly sent electronically to staff for processing.
Lab test results are automatically added to the patient's record within the system, where they can be easily accessed by physicians and compared with previous results. With the EMR, electronic voice mail messages - Continuum receives more than 400 phone calls a day - are immediately passed to the doctors' personal systems. Physician schedules are also managed within the system for easy update and so that physicians can review them from anywhere, including home.
With all patient information, exam notes, test results, diagnostic images and drug therapy history maintained within the system for each patient, it's a simple matter for physicians to prepare a complete patient history to share with other medical practitioners who may be involved in the patient's care.
Results
The EMR has been essential to Continuum's success to date, giving them the ability to more effectively manage their practice, better utilize space, and relieve physicians of cumbersome administrative duties so that they are free to practice medicine and deliver enhanced care to their patients. With physicians able to enter notes or order lab tests or prescriptions from within an exam room using wireless devices, Continuum can book more appointments and see more patients because rooms are free immediately after a patient visit. This means that patients get access to care sooner and Continuum generates more revenue.
With EMR, patient charts are archived electronically, addressing not only the legal requirement to retain medical records for lengthy periods, but also significantly improving the ability to search and retrieve patient information quickly.
If a patient's regular physician is not available, it's a simple matter for the patient to see another Continuum physician because the patient's complete information and medical history is all easily accessible in the EMR system. This helps to improve physicians' lifestyles by giving them much-needed time off.
Integrating the EMR system with a drug interaction database increases patient safety by ensuring that a drug prescription, regardless of the prescribing doctor, will not lead to an adverse drug interaction due to drug-drug or drug-allergy incompatibilities.
While the individual benefits Continuum is realizing from the EMR system are many, it is enabling them to achieve their goal of delivering excellent healthcare to patients while creating a new type of environment for physicians that is compelling, both personally and financially.
Innovative Use of Technology
Continuum reports that less than three per cent of doctors in Canada, and less than 10 per cent of doctors in British Columbia, having implemented electronic medical records. A paperless medical practice is rare. Continuum has not only implemented electronic medical records to improve the performance of its internal operations, but has done so in the context of innovating medical care in Canada.
In just more than one year, more than 35,000 patients have come to rely on Continuum physicians and specialists for continuous, high-quality medical care, making this newly launched practice the largest family medical practice in British Columbia.
A 2006 CIPA Winner!
For its exceptional application of information technology to solve real-world business problems, Continuum Medical Care has been awarded a 2006 CIPA Gold Award of Excellence in the Customer Care, For Profit category.
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