Ep. 64 | Zach White, Epic & MyChart

Transcript

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When it comes to your health. Knowledge is power, and access to that information is very important. Welcome to what brings you In Today, a podcast from SMC health. I'm Kara Brockwell and I'm Erica Bennett. And today we are talking with Zach White who is the director of our Epic Systems and Applications. About my chart and health technology is helping patients become more involved in their care.

So is that what brings you in today? Well, we're really we want to talk about my chart and the tools and functionality it has to help engage patients to help remove barriers and get them to make informed decisions, and empowering them with the knowledge that is being talked about in their care, with their providers and care team, so that we can just make sure that they have the ability to have access to that information and use that to make informed decisions.

Okay, so I mentioned my chart. You mentioned my chart. So let's tell them what my chart is. My chart. So my chart is our secure patient facing online portal. It has a lot of information in it. Just like I mentioned has information with labs has information with your providers. It's a messaging tool for your providers. It's really meant to help you engage with your care team.

Really helps. If you go somewhere to a organization like Mayo to have that data, that you can kind of bridge the gap and you're not always waiting on us to get that information for you, really just it's much harder. Is your health care information in your pocket is your health record. So versus having that manila folder with all the, you know, test results that you may have gotten back in the day and lab results, you now have that available through this portal.

So it's like your profile. It's your patient profile. It's it's connected to your medical record. And that's why they say that we've went from Myspace to my chart. That's what my generation says anyways. If you if you that's the plug for this episode. But anyways. But it is it's your profile. It's your portal that only you have access to in your physician.

Yes. Yep. So before we really dive deep into my chart, let's just start, let you introduce yourself and tell us what your role is. Yeah. So I am the director of Epic Systems Applications, as we mentioned. And we deal with my team and I do a lot with the electronic health record system, which is used throughout the organization of EDS clinics, hospitals, lab EVs.

You know, epic is our EHR system, and it's used across the whole organization in many areas. And what my team and I do, we engage those operational areas and we work with leaders to create efficiencies. And this is all centered around the care that we get to our patients trying to enhance that patient experience. And we do that through working with these operational leaders, creating efficiencies so that our physicians can spend more time focused on the patient and the care they are getting, and have the time to explain and make sure that the patient fully understands before they leave.

00:03:13:19 - 00:03:43:00
Unknown
And so we we really strive to just create a patient experience that is positive when the patient comes to our organization. Yeah. How did you get into this role? What what made you interested in that? So before I joined the technology team, I worked as a nurse on the floor. And you know, when you're working as a nurse on the floor, you think I got the patient in front of me?

00:03:43:00 - 00:04:02:14
Unknown
I'm taking care of this patient. But health care is is way more complex than that. So when we implemented our new HR, I decided to to give that a shot. And it really opened my eyes to the barriers that we have. Because when patient care does not stop at discharge, it's not stop when you leave your primary care physician office.

00:04:02:17 - 00:04:27:22
Unknown
It's ongoing. And I really enjoy the the fact of removing barriers and creating access. And to me, that that's meaningful work. I want people spending less time navigating health care and more time focused and engaged on their health. And I feel like being a front line worker probably gives you a very interesting perspective on how you can make their lives easier.

00:04:27:23 - 00:04:51:08
Unknown
Now that you're in this role. It does. And we and we do that in many ways. And like I said, partnering with with nurses, partnering with clinicians, even front and desk staff and registration all the way to billing, you know, we have that knowledge that we can tie that together and we collaborate across team because health care doesn't start.

00:04:51:09 - 00:05:16:05
Unknown
It starts even before you come in to the to the hospital or to the physician office. So that's your registration staff. With your your pre-check in, you can do updating your medications. In my chart, we really collaborate with with every area because they all have specialized knowledge. And we we bridge that gap and bring them together. And that's where we start seeing the returns of our investment with the patient experience.

00:05:16:10 - 00:05:35:11
Unknown
And one of the things that we were able to partner with your team on was the urgent care centers to showcase those on the app so that you can go and see both of our locations, what the wait times are, and can even go ahead and check in and do it all from your phone before you ever leave your house.

00:05:35:13 - 00:05:54:07
Unknown
Yes. And it's all about giving the patient information so they can make the best decisions for them. People are busy. It may be worth going to an urgent care that has a 30 minute less wait time. You might. You might drive five extra minutes for that. So it's just all about getting the information from the patient, letting them make their own decisions.

00:05:54:08 - 00:06:18:09
Unknown
Yeah, yeah. Over the past several years, what are some of the biggest changes that you've seen in how patients access and manage their care? So everything has become digitized. You know, it used to be phone calls, paper mills, letters. Now with tools like my chart. People are able to engage directly. They're able to message their provider. They're able to see when care gaps are due.

00:06:18:10 - 00:06:42:14
Unknown
These preventative screenings that are so important for the health of our community. When I practice nursing, from the very beginning, everything was on paper. And to see that trend, like, I can't even imagine that now. But yeah, I mean, I remember signing off medications and now that everything's been digitized, it helps prevent errors from somebody misreading and entering a medication.

00:06:42:14 - 00:07:09:19
Unknown
So we've actually seen safety increase. We've seen just just the engagement and the barriers to care. We're seeing patients becoming active participants in their health care rather than passive recipients of it. And to me, I think that's a really big change I've noticed. I would hate to have to call the doctor's office every time I needed to send a message, like my chart messaging my doctor is so much better.

00:07:09:21 - 00:07:29:14
Unknown
You are directly, you know, talking to them well. And let's face it, you never think of the question until it's after 5:00 and the office is closed, so you can't call anyways. I mean, that's when it comes to mind and said the ability to do it at your convenience when you think about it at that moment versus putting it off and forgetting again and further delay in care.

00:07:29:17 - 00:07:52:11
Unknown
Yep. Yeah. The martial art messaging app. We the vast majority of our messages patients are answered same day. Most of them are entered, are answered within hours. And that's a really good way to to ask those questions. Reduces phone tag. And it helps our staff to also focus on patients that are there in person to make sure that that that visit is not interrupted.

00:07:52:12 - 00:08:14:12
Unknown
So it's all around a good thing. Yeah. And in addition to messaging, you know, you can check your test results and your upcoming appointments. What other things could we could we find in our mind chart accounts? So I think for your you know, you mentioned labs. Labs are always everybody wants to know their labs. The message and portion we talked about which is really good.

00:08:14:13 - 00:08:33:15
Unknown
But I think some of some of the the things that aren't talking about enough is having that information for when you leave your clinic appointment or when you're discharged from the hospital trying to remember what did the doctor say? You can see your notes in there. You can see your after visit summary, what medications you should be taking if something was changed.

00:08:33:16 - 00:08:56:07
Unknown
All this stuff can can be confusing in the moment when you're talking about it, especially when you're just wanting to get home, you know? Yeah. So even like your medication list of, you know, that's a big deal that we talk about a lot is having an accurate medication list, especially for if you're hospitalized or, you know, have to go into the E.R. or something knowing what you're on and what impacts those have.

00:08:56:07 - 00:09:20:16
Unknown
And that's right there in your mychart if you seen the providers and you've got your account, all of your providers in that one account. Yes. I mean, it can be very confusing when a dose has changed lower and you have that medication at home already. So, you know, just having that to be able to compare. I mean, I think that that increases the quality of care we give and helps patients remain compliant with the appropriate medications.

00:09:20:18 - 00:09:40:17
Unknown
And we've seen a big shift. So I remember when we implemented epic and when we first started to talk about my chart, and it was like, nobody's going to do this. Nobody is going to use this. You know, especially in South Georgia, we're kind of more of that paper type. Just we're a little bit behind sometimes bigger cities.

00:09:40:17 - 00:10:01:21
Unknown
And really with the Covid, when that came around and everybody having to use it and get familiar with it, I think it was just a lack of knowledge about what it was and what it is, and then being able to use it for quick test results. We saw a large adoption, you know, into epic in my chart. Yeah.

00:10:01:22 - 00:10:22:11
Unknown
You know, we were really concerned with with the usage of it, you know, a surprising fact of that. The majority of our patients are over the age of 60, and they use it really well. I, you know, the, the my chart is easy to use. You get in there playing around with it. It's pretty intuitive. And I think that's helped.

00:10:22:11 - 00:10:45:13
Unknown
And we're always looking at what can we do to improve that, to revamp it and make it easier to use. And we're really looking forward to some of the you functionalities we're putting into it for, you know, appointment access, being able to reschedule and a lot of other features. So you'll start seeing the functionality of my chart and what you can do on it increase as we as we get along.

00:10:45:14 - 00:11:06:10
Unknown
And you can also I mean, I primarily use it on my phone, but I didn't even realize you could. But you can also access it on a desktop if you're more comfortable, like with the larger screens and stuff like that. Right. A large percentage do that. It is mobile. We see a lot of people access it from their desktop and the web browser, and it's the same functionality as it is on your mobile device.

00:11:06:12 - 00:11:33:07
Unknown
For those that maybe are managing like chronic conditions and see a lot of different providers, but they're all using utilizing Mychart or the epic system, like what benefit does that give to the patient? So when you're when you're managing a chronic disease, you know, organization matters. Being able to see when you have your appointments, being able to see test results and trend, you know, you start becoming an active participant.

00:11:33:07 - 00:11:50:00
Unknown
You start taking charge. You start getting the driver's seat of being in charge of your own health. You start advocating for yourself. And that's exactly what we're wanting. We're wanting to put that data in front of you, and we want you to be able to ask the important questions and have that data when it's time to ask that with the position.

00:11:50:01 - 00:12:15:17
Unknown
It's very hard to remember what A1 see was, you know, two months ago, three months ago, a year or what it was two years ago. How are you trending over your treatment? You have access to that with my chart. And you know, when you're when you're there in front of your provider, you have the information to ask those informed questions and be a part of the care and not just a passive recipient of it.

00:12:15:18 - 00:12:39:18
Unknown
Yeah. The other thing we've been able to utilize it for is to help identify patients who are maybe up for, or do for, or eligible for a screening, a health screening or something, just to provide gentle reminders like, hey, you now qualify for this screening. You know, here's how you make your appointment. A mammogram could be a good example, and that one actually has where you can schedule your appointment online.

00:12:39:20 - 00:13:06:16
Unknown
But just allowing yourself to connect in with patients specifically for those that it impacts versus like just a broad brush stroke of the general population. And we have we have what they're called care gaps in my chart and our EHR system. And we they are based on national recommendations. And insurance usually usually pays for those. So we have them based like mammograms.

00:13:06:18 - 00:13:28:09
Unknown
And some of this is driven by your your diagnosis that your physicians enter. So if you're a diabetic and you haven't had an agency it's going to remind you, hey, it's time to get a check on that a onesie. We found great success with the mammogram mammogram campaigns. And you know, it's just that we we lives are busy and we want people to just be engaged.

00:13:28:09 - 00:13:49:08
Unknown
And we want to make it easy so that they're not chasing answers. The information is right there. Well, health care is complicated enough. We know that, like everyone says, complex. It's dynamic, especially if you're not in the field. Even for those that are in the field, it's always changing. So just consolidating all of that for the patients and trying to do it's easiest for them.

00:13:49:10 - 00:14:12:23
Unknown
Yes. Yeah. We I mean and we're and that's what my charts all about using technology to remove barriers. And I think we've we've done a great job and we're going to continue moving forward with that. And we're going to continue to increase access to appointments, rescheduling. We have a lot of functionality come in with. We've got some AI things that are coming to help.

00:14:12:23 - 00:14:41:04
Unknown
Just bridge that gap and you have to be careful with AI. You have you have Google, you know, and people tell you don't use Google because it's pulling from open sources data. And so there's things like ChatGPT. So you have hallucinations in it. You have thing it's pulling from opinions on the internet. The AI that we use that we're going to start seeing available in my chart is from a dedicated source that has been vetted out for healthcare.

00:14:41:09 - 00:15:01:09
Unknown
So to give you more informed answers and just, you know, just empower you with information is the main goal. You just mentioned that, like in a conversation earlier about how you take your results and go put them in whatever. And this would be within my chart, but it's like the medical vetted version of AI. So that'll be huge.

00:15:01:10 - 00:15:32:22
Unknown
That will be amazing. And then what about so my chart is a product of epic. So I talked just a little bit about that. Epic is our electronic health record that our health system uses. But tell about I mean it's like best in class and how it works and what it offers us. Yeah. So epic does really good it majority of the hospitals are using epic now, and it is really tailored to the quality of patient care that we give.

00:15:32:23 - 00:16:10:19
Unknown
It allows us to manipulate and change it so that we can tailor it to our community, to our physicians, to our nurses and our staff to really bring up data and things that need to be addressed. Well, we have they are developing a lot with AI right now, and the AI currently we're implementing and have actually use some of it is bringing data up that is relevant to the patient's visit, summarizing data and allowing physicians to quickly see pertinent information so that we can make sure that we're addressing everything that needs to be addressed.

00:16:10:19 - 00:16:37:05
Unknown
That and they're doing it is bringing it up so that it it's just quick to view. Not a lot of searching. And the AI that we use is always validated with human in the loop. So the goal the future of healthcare and we're epic is moving is not to remove human interaction. It's just to give tools to create efficiency and bring that data to the forefront.

00:16:37:06 - 00:17:00:00
Unknown
Yeah. Supplement it just as a tool. Absolutely. Despite the growing popularity of my chart, there are still some that are hesitant to use it. But what would you say to to convince someone to sign up for my chart? You know, we talked about my chart and how it empowers you. It gives you decision making potential, keeps you informed.

00:17:00:06 - 00:17:23:16
Unknown
You know, nobody has has ever said, I wish I didn't get involved in my health care earlier, you know. Yeah. It's never it's never too early and it's never too late. You know, getting involved with your health care. Now, my chart is easy to use. If you've had an appointment here, you just search SMC health, my chart, and you go in there and sign up for it and connect to your account.

00:17:23:16 - 00:17:41:00
Unknown
And we have contact information. If you need help getting that, just call that help number. Yeah, I was going to say there's plenty of people on our team who would be more than willing to help you get, you know, configured and get everything set up so that you can look at it. Yeah, it's super easy to use even when you get loud.

00:17:41:01 - 00:18:08:21
Unknown
You talk about labs earlier. You want to know your lab value. You don't want to wait three weeks to or follow up with your physician. Get your lab values now. Get engaged with your health. I mean, it's the earlier the better. And it's incredible how quickly those results will come in. So I mean, you don't have to wait very long to see the result of your ultrasound or your, you know, my favorite thing is figuring out if my son has stepped out or not before the doctor gets in the room, I'm like, is it going to beat the doctor?

00:18:08:21 - 00:18:16:08
Unknown
Is it? Am I going to see? And then it's like, no, I'm like, okay, I can go home if I'm like, yeah, well, waiting on that prescription.

00:18:16:10 - 00:18:38:05
Unknown
But it is crazy that it is that fast. Yeah. And then it's on the record. Yep. And talking about your son, you know, as we, as we think about like, you know, how can we use my chart for people that have aging parents or children or just somebody that has a chronic diagnosis they want to help manage? We have the proxy access and no longer do you have to worry about.

00:18:38:06 - 00:19:00:05
Unknown
I can't make appointment with with mom today. They're going to send me instead. Who's not going to be able to give you the detailed information now as a proxy access, you can see the you can see the note. You can see labs orders. The information is at your fingertips. Also helps you to keep informed of appointments. You know, messaging the care team.

00:19:00:05 - 00:19:17:15
Unknown
There's a lot of functionality there to help assist request and bills for certain medications. You know, just simple things that just a lot easier to do through that. I've been joking with my dad that I was going to go in and add myself as a proxy so that I could be in the know of all his stuff. And he's like, no, you're not.

00:19:17:17 - 00:19:40:14
Unknown
So it is one of those things that you have to have the patient's permission in order to get proxy access. But in situations where you have aging parents or children, that's very, very helpful. Yeah, we see a lot of usage out of that. Yeah. For like, yeah. What's something that's on the horizon that you're excited about. And maybe we haven't done here yet, but we're looking at doing something that ethics kind of.

00:19:40:16 - 00:20:14:18
Unknown
So really you know I mentioned the AI earlier. Have an AI conversation units in my chart to help with scheduling, rescheduling, ask questions about labs and pull that vetted data out so that you have that you're able to ask the right questions to the providers when you when you pull that data out and do your own research, we're looking at revamping some of our scheduling templates to really engage with our patients and letting them be in the driver's seat and scheduling their own appointments whenever they have time to sell and do it.

00:20:14:23 - 00:20:38:21
Unknown
Nobody wants to be called on the phone, drive down the road, ask. Hey, when do you have available? Yeah, you don't have a calendar ready. And so and we're really expanding when images and things like that are entered to allow you to self schedule that out at a time that's just convenient for you. We're really driving for not when as when is it convenient for SMC health?

00:20:38:21 - 00:20:59:08
Unknown
When is it convenient for you? And we want to make that possible. And especially with imaging, I mean, we have imaging at locations across the health system. You could have five different options of where you want to go. And if we put that at your fingertips, you know, you might say, well, actually the hospital in Nashville, CMC health variant is closer to me.

00:20:59:08 - 00:21:21:07
Unknown
So I'm going to make my appointment there because that's more convenient for my life. Absolutely. We've actually had a few people that have went out there, and we've I've seen some good reviews from hey, went out there and it was a nice facility. The the staff there was great. And you get your appointment sooner or more on a time that works for you.

00:21:21:09 - 00:21:42:23
Unknown
Just open access and visibility of all the options that are, that are there. Very good. The other thing about just being a part of epic is that it's not just our team that's looking at stuff, it's like you have this whole team in there at the forefront of patient care nationally, so we have access to these resources to make sure that our organization is on the cutting edge.

00:21:43:01 - 00:22:08:09
Unknown
We actually have a thing called a user web where it's a complete form, it's complete. It's almost like a Google. It's called Galaxy Guide, but it's just like a Google where you get to see what other people are doing that use. You get to see successes and failures, and there's a lot of information out there of of people that are using epic and doing things different, and they're finding that that is positive changes.

00:22:08:10 - 00:22:35:09
Unknown
And a lot of times we use that to validate and to build around what others are finding successful. So it's really good to have such a broad community that engages and wants to engage with the patient population. Yeah. And it's interesting. I've experienced this with my dad as well. But like if you go to a tertiary care facility that also uses epic, like they can access your records from SMC health at, you know, Piedmont, for example.

00:22:35:10 - 00:23:02:17
Unknown
So that's that's pretty exciting. Yeah, we have a scout care everywhere. And it's part of the we call it Trust Exchange Network. And you know just has has labs imaging data notes. It's just continuing care at other organizations. And that has always been one thing that's been missing is having that. And now you're finding that physicians and your care team, they can treat you better.

00:23:02:17 - 00:23:25:19
Unknown
And it also works in reverse. So if they go to Mayo Emory we get that information here. So it's helpful all around. Yeah. And another just simpler example of that is let's just talk about primary care. If you see one of our physicians that uses our epic system and then you're admitted to the E.R., you get, you know, go to amulets, gets called, you get taken to the E.R., something happens.

00:23:25:20 - 00:23:50:07
Unknown
You know, your provider can then see that information and access it and be aware it's all there. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, it makes a huge difference when we can look in real time and see notes from the position office labs that were ordered. And it's almost data two of their time here. It just helps. It helps positions make informed decisions about the patient's care and care as well.

00:23:50:08 - 00:24:08:08
Unknown
Yeah. Well indoor specialist you know now we have a large specialty network. So that referral you're not having to call and say, hey, can you send all my medical records over to this office? You can literally just make the referral and make your appointment. They have all the stuff. So again, it's easy on the patient. Let's work all around.

00:24:08:11 - 00:24:30:11
Unknown
Yeah I mean it makes a big difference. And not only do we get to see that, you know the patients get to see all that too. And they can help coordinate and help make informed decisions again. Is there anything we haven't touched on that you want to close with before we wrap it up? You know, I would just encourage you that if you're not using my chart, you know, find out how to use it.

00:24:30:11 - 00:24:53:15
Unknown
Just the earlier you can get in, the better, you know, take charge of your health. Nobody's going to spend more time advocating for your health than you are. So make that decision to be involved. It's easy. It's not complicated. We're here to help you. And you know, SMC health has a time to make sure that you're engaged to answer any questions.

00:24:53:15 - 00:25:12:22
Unknown
So when you're being your own health advocate, just make sure you stay engaged. And do not be afraid to ask questions of your health care providers. Because we want to answer. We want to take the time. Absolutely. Well, thank you so much for joining us today. We really appreciate it. It's a pleasure to be here. All right. Well, thank you for tuning in.

00:25:12:22 - 00:25:16:21
Unknown
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