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‘Value Over Volume, Patients Like Family’

7 October 2022
Blog

eClinicalWorks

Sounding two key notes during the Keynote

On a day that showcased some remarkable advances — V12, Touch 4, and new Patient Engagement solutions — the best summary of the value that eClinicalWorks and healow deliver came from a customer whose organization is thriving across nine states and Puerto Rico.

“If I leave you with one thought, put value over volume and treat patients like family,” said Dr. Marlow Hernandez, CEO of CanoHealth, of the nation’s leading value-based care organizations.

Dr. Hernandez joined Scott Farr, COO of Pediatric Associates and eClinicalWorks CEO Girish Navani on stage during the morning Keynote Address and Product Showcase.

Like many practices, Dr. Hernandez said, CanoHealth began on paper records and tried several Electronic Health Record solutions before realizing that eClinicalWorks offered the comprehensive platform they needed to build a truly patient-centric organization.

Farr said that thanks to their partnership with eClinicalWorks, Pediatric Associates has also seen rapid growth. In just a few years, they have grown from 30 offices in Florida to more than 300 offices across nine states. They scaled their success, he noted, by building on excellence in population-based care.

Technology for the sake of improving lives

The importance of putting value first and treating patients like family resurfaced throughout Day 1 of the Conference.

To illustrate the power of modern technology, for example, Girish focused not on the speed of search or the millions of websites humans can access in nanoseconds. Rather, he told about a Facetime call he received recently from a childhood friend whom he had not seen for more than 30 years.
A video story about Brookhaven Heart and MD365, a New York cardiology practice, explored the value of Remote Patient Monitoring in controlling a patient’s high blood pressure. But long after the specific numbers fade from memory, viewers will remember the patient’s relief and gratitude for the care she received.
And during the morning Product Showcase, whether the topic was the new floating toolbar, hotkeys, macros, or new options in the Right Chart Panel, the bottom line was never technology for its own sake but how that technology improves the lives of patients and providers.

The cloud is key to the future

The successes on display throughout Friday — both in terms of pure technology and its impact on human lives — share another point that healthcare providers should heed: Many work best or exclusively in the cloud.

The advantages of the cloud-based, multi-dimensional eClinicalWorks EHR simply cannot be fully realized if a practice remains on a client-server model.

As Girish explained, many critical EHR functions are already in the cloud. The advances unveiled on Day 1 largely depend upon the cloud. And eClinicalWorks, with a $110 million investment in Microsoft Azure cloud services, is now truly a cloud-first healthcare IT company.

“Please move to the cloud,” Girish noted. “The browser interface is what makes the difference.”

That was echoed by Dr. Vivek Kohli and Dr. Ramon Figueroa of WellMed Medical Management, which switched its nearly 12,000 providers to the cloud in one day, leading to improved performance, easier upgrades, and sharply higher patient satisfaction.

“We made a commitment to change, evolve, and adapt so that our teams and physicians can focus on our patients,” Dr. Kohli said.

Achieving excellence through the strategic implementation of eClinicalWorks solutions has also been hugely impactful for other organizations, including the morning’s final two presenters — Todd Mallon, CFO of Advocare and Bryant Stetz, Director of Operations for Rothman Orthopaedics.

United toward a common goal

As the afternoon unfolded, thousands of attendees were on the move. Some scattered to gather a welcome lunch, attend a training session, or watch an eClinicalWorks Podcast. Others gathered in breakout sessions or strolled through the Exhibit Hall to meet with exhibitors or stop by eCWCentral.

But all were united in working toward the same goal — improving healthcare together.

Dr. Hernandez — who left Cuba in 1993 for freedom and opportunity in the U.S. — once again put it well. The United States is the greatest nation on Earth, he said, but has still not turned its research institutions and abundant natural and human resources into the best possible healthcare for all.

But the hope of happiness and health for all endures. And for the thousands attending Day 1 of the National Conference, those lessons of putting value before volume and treating patients like family would likely be lasting ones.

“When you do that,” Dr. Hernandez said, “you will be successful.”