INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – As the COVID-19 healthcare crisis worsens in the US, health systems are faced with the issue of caring for patients with COVID-19 and those with symptoms suggesting COVID-19 while maintaining care of other patients — all while mitigating the risk of spreading the disease. Health systems using Diagnotes have virtually found the answer to the new workflow and communication challenges that the Coronavirus has created. By utilizing the telehealth capabilities in Diagnotes, a leading healthcare productivity suite, they are able to effectively communicate with patients via the Diagnotes app in order to continue providing essential care. As a result, significantly less patients are coming into facilities, thus mitigating risk and exposure to this highly contagious virus.

By utilizing the Diagnotes for Patients app, healthcare professionals can have virtual visits with their patients on either a scheduled or ad hoc basis, without the need to share their personal contact information. Patients can also reach out with requests for help. Patients log into their HIPAA-compliant Diagnotes app on their iOS or Android mobile devices and are able to interact with a physician or nurse via video, secure messaging and live voice, even sending and receiving images or documents. In addition, messages via the Diagnotes app alert clinicians like a text, streamlining communication and notifying them in real-time.

“We are here to serve healthcare professionals and their organizations, helping to ease the burden of their demanding and time-intensive jobs with technology that supports what they are doing. Via clinician-controlled, HIPAA-compliant access to Diagnotes, healthcare professionals are able to deliver the care their patients need without placing themselves, their care teams or the patients themselves at risk for the coronavirus, while reducing the demand for personal protective equipment (PPE),” said Dave Wortman, CEO of Diagnotes.

South Carolina’s Tidelands Heath, which includes four hospitals and more than 60 outpatient locations, is leveraging the power of Diagnotes’ virtual visit capabilities to continue to treat patients across multiple departments. Tidelands Health is also incorporating telehealth via Diagnotes into inpatient care. Using the Diagnotes platform, clinicians connect with the nurse in a patient’s room via video. All parties can then communicate as if the physician is in the room, minimizing potential exposure to either the patient or the clinician and reducing the use of PPE.

“Tidelands Health uses Diagnotes to safeguard the health of some of our most vulnerable patients, those undergoing chemotherapy,” said David Haseltine, MD,
Chief Medical Informatics Officer of Tidelands Health. “In our oncology practice, we connect physicians to patients in their homes, reducing their risk of contracting COVID-19. In our inpatient hospitals, we deploy Diagnotes for nursing staff and providers to maintain open communication with patients while reducing the risk of exposure to COVID-19 and conserving our PPE.”

Margaret Mary Health based in Batesville, IN, deployed the Diagnotes for Patients app to treat behavioral health patients. Therapists connect with their patients either individually or in group sessions. Patients join via their personal mobile devices, continuing to receive the therapy they need without ever leaving their homes.

“By working alongside internal IT staff, we were able to get Margaret Mary up and running within 24 hours,” said Mandy Wood, Client Success Manager at Diagnotes. “Now their behavioral health therapists are treating patients virtually, and people are still getting the critical help they need even when they can’t meet in person.”

Using Diagnotes, Margaret Mary Health is able to not only hold one-on-one sessions but have also been able to continue group therapy sessions while maintaining the same level of HIPAA compliance as they would in the hospital setting.

Similarly, Indiana-based Hancock Health, a full-service healthcare network, is also utilizing the Diagnotes for Patients app to care for patients virtually during the current health crisis. Licensed social workers held scheduled virtual appointments via video with patients. Hancock Health is now in the process of expanding the use of Diagnotes to inpatient virtual visits.

“Expanding our use of Diagnotes to include virtual visits for both inpatient and outpatient use has been very successful. Our number one concern is getting patients the care they need as safely and efficiently as possible. With Diagnotes, we are successfully doing that,” said Dr. Mike Fletcher, MD, CMO of Hancock Health.