Because of the massive imbalance between healthcare system capability and consumer demand, the COVID-19 pandemic has posed unique problems for the US healthcare system.
Thanks to the traditional view that people must be at the forefront of healthcare delivery activities, the healthcare sector has become a late adopter of technology technologies. However, in the event of a COVID-19 pandemic, artificial intelligence (AI) may be used to perform complex tasks including pre-hospital triage, allowing physicians to provide treatment at scale.
Recognizing that the majority of COVID-19 cases are mild and do not necessitate hospitalization, Partners HealthCare (now Mass General Brigham) implemented a digitally-automated pre-hospital triage solution to direct patients to the appropriate care setting before they arrived at the emergency department or clinics, which would otherwise waste resources and expose other patients and staff to potential infections.
While the use of AI to maximize supply and demand balancing has been well-established in other fields, the use of AI to execute activities that were previously done in-person by clinical personnel is new.
What is digital triage?
Digital Triage changes the way your patients get care and how you handle your practice’s workload.
- Patients will no longer be able to make a direct appointment.
- In an online request, all patients explain their diagnosis and symptoms.
- Patients who are unable to access the internet will call in and have questions entered on their behalf by a staff member.
- All requests are triaged, prioritized, and monitored before being delegated to clinicians who choose whether to respond by email, phone, video consultation, or in person.
No more waiting lines
You will use Digital Triage at any time. Gone are the days of waiting for Pain Specialty Group to open so you could call and leave a message, just to have a staff member go through all of the voicemails, create a computer log of each one, document the particular message into the medical record, and then route the individual requests to the proper physician. Not to mention the fact that, as the staff is listening to recent voicemails and writing notes, new messages are arriving at the same time. When you combine this job with the fact that you’ll be working with the same people at your in-person patient appointments, you will see how sluggish the procedure can be.
Stress reduction
Seriously, instead of calling, posting the request online can help reduce frustration and tension associated with waiting and working via a voice interface that many people have grown to dislike. Your uncertainty will therefore be reduced ensuring that your query will be entered into your medical record exactly as you typed it. This eliminates the possibility of human error and misinterpretation while recording a voicemail message.
How to use digital triage?
It’s very easy to use Digital Triage solutions. Simply look for the Digital Triage badge on the Pain Specialty Group webpage, click it, log into the Patient Portal, and send us an email. The machine takes care of the rest.
The device reliably records your contact with Pain Specialty Group onto your personal medical record, notifies the team, and then forwards your unique inquiry to the right physician with a single click of a button. In most cases, your answer will arrive quickly and easily. You will also get a notification on your mobile when we reply.
