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At the Hospitals

n Atrium Health Selects Epic for                     When using a virtual visit, care is given     created a tool that organizes data by race
                                                   through a live, face-to-face video visit with   and ethnicity, gender, and location for a
  Electronic Health Records Across                 a medical provider. Adults can be seen          variety of population health and clinical
                                                   for several minor illnesses, including but      quality measures such as diabetes A1c
  Three States                                     not limited to, cold or flu-like symptoms,      control, blood pressure control, cancer
                                                   seasonal allergies, pink eye, minor skin        screenings, readmissions and more.
  As part of its ongoing work to integrate         issues, or urinary tract infections. With the
with its Navicent Health locations in Georgia,     new pediatric services for younger children,      This data then was used to implement
Atrium Health has selected Epic as the             virtual care is also available for common       a number of culturally appropriate
standard, uniform platform for its electronic      conditions, such as poison ivy, ringworm,       interventions at primary care practices
health records. Atrium Health locations in the     eczema, newborn rashes, colds, allergies        and at the community level, including a
Carolinas already use Epic’s revenue cycle         and pink eye. Prescriptions can also be         phone call campaign and working with a
platform. Implementing Epic for its clinical       issued and are usually sent to the preferred    local Spanish-language newspaper, which
systems across three states is expected to         pharmacy within the hour.                       resulted in an additional 200 screenings
increase efficiencies, reduce complexity and                                                       and the detection of some cancers at
improve physician satisfaction.                      Virtual visits can be easily accessed on a    earlier stages. As a result, from 2018 to
                                                   smartphone, tablet, or video-enabled computer.  2019, Atrium Health closed the disparity of
  A single system allows the complete              There’s no appointment necessary, costs are     colorectal screenings for Hispanic males
records of patients in any location to be          given upfront and users do not have to be an    compared to the overall screening rate for
easily accessed by clinicians consulting on        existing patient to receive care. They can be   males from 9.4 percentage points to 3.5
cases hundreds of miles away. Epic also            accessed by anyone in North or South Carolina   percentage points, reducing the disparity
helps physicians, nurses and other clinical        anytime, day or night, seven days a week.       by 62.7 percent.
teammates increase their overall satisfaction
with their daily work by improving the user        n Atrium Health Only Nonprofit                  n Atrium Health Collaborates With
experience with the electronic health record.
                                                     Healthcare System in Nation to                  Sneez App to Provide Consumers
  Atrium Health locations in the Carolinas
and Georgia currently use a variety of clinical      Win CMS Award                                   With Real-Time Health Information
systems for electronic health records. The
design of the single system already is under way.    Atrium Health was recognized by the             Atrium Health has collaborated with the
Implementation of the new, single Epic system      Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services        makers of the Sneez app to provide the
will begin with Atrium Health’s Navicent           (CMS) as a 2020 CMS Health Equity Award         public with real-time information regarding
Health locations in Georgia in 2021 and will       recipient. Atrium Health is one of two          illness in their geographic area to help
continue with its other locations through 2023.    organizations to win this prestigious award     consumers and their families stay informed
                                                   in 2020 and is the only nonprofit healthcare    and healthy.
n Atrium Health Expands Virtual Visits             system in the nation to be recognized by CMS.
                                                                                                     Sneez tracks a wide variety of illnesses,
  to Include Pediatric Care                          Established in 2018, the national             including upper respiratory infections such
                                                   CMS Health Equity Award recognizes              as the influenza (flu) virus and respiratory
  Atrium Health Virtual Visits are available       organizations that have demonstrated a          syncytial virus (RSV), strep throat, allergies,
for patients of all ages — from birth              strong commitment to health equity by           asthma, lice, conjunctivitis (pink eye),
through adulthood. Virtual visits are fast         reducing disparities that adversely affect      tick-borne illnesses and more. The app is
and convenient options for care, available         vulnerable populations, such as racial          updated daily using aggregated data from
24 hours a day and accessible from a tablet        and ethnic minorities, individuals with         Atrium Health’s primary care and urgent
or smartphone. By offering pediatric virtual       disabilities, sexual and gender minorities,     care practices, ensuring all information is
care, Atrium Health is helping parents save        and those living in rural areas. Atrium         accurate and timely.
time and money by treating their children’s        Health was recognized by CMS for
common conditions virtually.                       delivering quality patient care, supporting       Data appears as a heat map identifying
                                                   medical research and education, and joining     which illnesses are circulating in the area.
  Atrium Health is one of the first                with community partners to keep the             App users can receive alerts about reported
healthcare systems in the region to provide        community healthy.                              cases of illness and record their own cases
this unique type of pediatric virtual care                                                         in real-time. The Sneez app also can connect
for children under age 2. Users also can             To address racial and ethnic disparities,     users with local healthcare providers close
schedule an appointment with a dedicated           Atrium Health strengthened data and             to home. Other features include the ability
Levine Children’s provider for newborns            collaboration with community partners.          to reserve a spot with local urgent care
through age 17 for more specialized care.          Through a redesign of our electronic            locations and see healthcare providers
                                                   medical record (EMR), we transformed            through virtual visits.
                                                   the way we collect demographic data —
                                                   adding or improving questions on race,            This technology is a great tool for parents
                                                   ethnicity, language preference, assigned        who want to stay informed of the latest
                                                   sex at birth, and gender identity — and         illness trends in their area to keep their
                                                                                                   children healthy.

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