The “eConsult – Patient Centered Specialty Care” Program

About the Program

Category: Health (Best in Category)

Year: 2014

Like many public health systems in America, the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services (DHS) has found it challenging to meet the demand for outpatient specialty care services in the setting of limited resources. In 2011 alone, there were over 350,000 requests for DHS specialty services with wait times as long as 6-12 months for non-urgent appointments in some clinics. With this in mind DHS, in collaboration with the local Medicaid Health Plan (LA Care) and other community partners, launched eConsult - a web-based, HIPPA compliant, healthcare communication platform that allows Primary Care Providers (PCPs) to discuss their patient’s specialty care needs directly with DHS specialists in a secure, highly efficient and organized manner. Since July 2012, the 1,600 PCPs using eConsult have logged more than 66,000 unique eConsult requests in 23 specialty services with an average specialty response time of 2.7 days. In 32% of eConsults, the PCP-specialist dialogue resulted in the PCP managing the patient’s care without needing a face-to-face visit. For cases needing a face to face visit, eConsult allowed the specialist to ensure the appropriate pre-visit clinical testing is completed prior to the first visit and designate how quickly the patient needed to be seen in clinic.