Healthcare IT News - May 2008 - (Page 17)

www.HealthcareITNews.com phySIcIaN pRactIcES & amBulatoRy caRE leagues and to learn from one another. At twice-weekly sessions conducted via Project ECHO videoconferencing, they have a chance to present their cases and receive input from colleagues. About 15 physicians participate in each session. “We help them manage these patients,” Arora said. “This creates what’s called a learning loop. It gives them a professional connection throughout the state.” The Internet, the phone and a video camera make the connection possible. Web-based assessment technology that gobal software company Infosys developed May 2008 ■ Healthcare IT News 17 tal health disorders and substance abuse. And, today, other states – and other parts of the world – are looking to New Mexico as a model. As Arora sees it, Project ECHO model shows promise for improving care in underserved areas throughout the United States and in developing countries. Already under way in India is a Project ECHO initiative focused on autism. ■ More at eCHo Continued from page 1 Project ECHO – ECHO stands for Extension for Community Care Outcomes – started in late 2003, the brainchild of Sanjeev Arora, MD. Arora, a hepatitis specialist who serves as director of the project, notes that New Mexico has the highest rate of hepatitis C in the country – twice the national average of the United States. There are 32,000 cases in the state, and that number grows each year. Arora adds a few more statistics. New Mexico, with 120,000 square miles and a population of 2 million people, has a poverty rate of 17 percent. Only 20 percent of all the doctors in the state practice in rural communities. Hepatitis C is curable, but the course of treatment, which involves weekly injections of interferon and pills that have to be taken twice daily, can be complicated, Arora said, and the side effects severe. Project ECHO began with a $1.5 million grant from The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and matching funds from the state. By linking specialists to physicians, nurses and other clinicians in the field, Project ECHO makes it possible for patients to be treated by their primary care physician, who is guided by the specialist. It means avoiding referring the patient to a specialist, which usually means a long wait time – or, more often than not – going without treatment. “There’s a nine-month lag to see me,” Arora said. His colleagues have similar wait times, he added. But even if the wait time were not as long, most patients can’t afford to travel to urban centers for treatment, said Leslie Hayes, MD, a primary care physician In Espanola, north of Santa Fe. “For most of my patients with hepatitis C, if they can’t be treated here in the community, they’re not going to get treatment at all,” she said. Hayes has successfully treated several dozen patients with hepatitis C since being linked to Project ECHO, patients that would likely have gone untreated. Having the expertise of a specialist available has made Hayes more confident and more willing to initiate what can be complicated treatment, she said. And, the experience, in turn, has been invaluable as she treats other patients. “I got a lot of experience very quickly,” she said. “I’m a much, much better doctor than I was before.” That’s key to Project ECHO’s thrust, Arora said. Most physicians in rural New Mexico – and elsewhere in the country – feel isolated, he said. Project ECHO gives them an opportunity to connect with col- “For most of my patients with hepatitis c, if they can’t be treated here in the community, they’re not going to (be treated) at all.” – Leslie Hayes, MD specifically for Project ECHO helps physicians track their patients. Arora said the tool is protocol driven, and it enables physicians to follow their patients on a longitudinal basis. “They can manage their other diseases also,” Arora said, “and there’s a robust database underneath it.” What began with hepatitis C has now grown to include nine other diseases, including rheumatology consulting, diabetes, asthma, men- HealthcareITNews.com e ●Connect: eCHo 0508 e ● Connect: allSCrIPtS 0508 http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://HealthcareITNews.com http://www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=9140 http://www.allscripts.com http://www.allscripts.com http://www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=9204

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Healthcare IT News - May 2008 Contents Help Wanted Speeding Up Government Silos Privacy Pressures Tracking Disease Rah Rah Health! TriZetto Suit Outcomes Watch Ambulatory EHRs

Healthcare IT News - May 2008

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