Digital Technology Service (DTS) and its operational partners collaborate extensively to introduce, modify, and enhance technology, helping our clinicians and providers safely, effectively, and equitably care for patients.
A critical part of our organization, DTS makes continuous strides in technology to improve providers’ and clinicians’ experience with the tools they use to provide extraordinary care, while also making sure that the technologies needed to do our work are ready, secure, and available. DTS’s contributions to the organization and the larger industry are imperative to our growth and success. Led by Craig Richardsville, Intermountain’s CIO, DTS is a shining example of our values; their work touches everyone across the organization and they’ll continue to improve, innovate, and implement tools that benefit us all.
In the Canyons Region—and southern Utah Desert Region facilities—stroke patients are evaluated more efficiently thanks to the development of the Stroke Callback List, which ensures stroke patients can be contacted for follow-up post-discharge.
Low back pain (LBP) affects an estimated 75-80% of individuals globally. DTS created the LBP Navigation Order to help address the LBP epidemic. The order helps nurse navigators determine appropriate and prompt care. To further address the burden LBP puts on healthcare, the new order contains a referral to a physical therapy appointment to better support the ~18,000 patients presenting with LBP at Intermountain each year.
A specialized team in DTS, the Return to Results Project team, created a new foundational technology that allows results from clinical trials, clinical confirmation testing, and genetic counseling to be tracked and shared with patients. This work will assist an estimated 15,000 or more patients in 2023.
In the Peaks Region, the Compass Rose module of EPIC was implemented to support care coordination and ambulatory care management. It allows care teams to track patient enrollment and outreach, engage patients and community partners, and collaborate on care plans to ensure proper care.
An optimized EPIC workflow that coordinates rheumatology patients’ provider and infusion appointments into one visit has been implemented, reducing the number of visits for patients while decreasing travel time and inefficiencies and gaining $2.3 million in revenue.
DTS hasn’t stopped at the borders of our service area. They contribute to the health information technology (HIT) space through expert presentations and papers. Dr. James Hellewell recently presented at the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA) conference. His presentation addressed the integration of the state-controlled substance database into iCentra. A paper describing this work will appear in the AMIA conference proceedings. Additionally, DTS caregivers have been accepted to present a paper at the upcoming Health Information Management Systems Society (HIMSS) conference. The paper explains how patient care can be improved by using interoperable clinical decision-support tools.