Outcomes Improvement And ROI Through EHR Integrated Health Calculators

This content was originally created by Galen Healthcare, now part of RLDatix.

Background

eCalcs are health calculators seamlessly integrated with Allscripts TouchWorksTM. The concept of eCalcs materialized when a trusted client requested that Galen Healthcare Solutions build a tool that would allow their physicians to perform calculations for Framingham Risk for Heart Attack within the EHR. When our clients saw the usefulness of that calculator, they realized the power of a platform that could host multiple health calculators. Four years and over 80 calculators later, eCalcs not only provides a range of integrated risk score calculators, but it also contains questionnaires as well as comprehensive workflow modules. In 2013, Galen introduced our anticoagulation (AntiCoag) module, designed to help clinicians begin anticoagulant therapy for patients by estimating the necessary dosage.

Summary

Designed as a separate menu document in the EHR menu framework, eCalcs supports quicker and more accurate calculator-driven care decisions by pulling relevant data from a patient’s chart, such as demographics, results, problems, medications and vitals into the calculator. This functionality eliminates the need for providers to navigate outside of the EHR, reducing errors due to mistakes in input, and, paramount to all, saving time. The current patient’s health information is preloaded into the calculator, reducing time and errors associated with entering the clinical indicators into the calculator. Scores are automatically documented as Results within the patient
chart, and they may be shown in a flow sheet and cited into a Note. Scores are dated for future reference by the physician for the history of the patient and to show trends. Physicians also use the eCalcs risk calculators to show patients how changes in lifestyle can affect risk. An example is showing a smoker how the risk of stroke will be reduced if they stop smoking