With the majority of medical staff today using smart phones, it's no wonder that secure communication is becoming more of a concern than ever, since non-HIPAA messaging exposes these providers to unrecognized liabilities. In fact, last year the Joint Commission banned physicians from using traditional texting. But technology is working for technology's sake. One new app called Practice Unite is being used by over 800 providers to communicate securely. DOTmed News spoke with Joseph Scott, CEO of Jersey City Medical Center, about adopting the technology and his views about the use of mobile technology in the health care environment.



DMN: Give me a little background on Jersey City Medical Center?

JS: Jersey City Medical Center is a tertiary care community hospital in Hudson County, New Jersey. We also have an ambulatory center and several clinics in multiple locations across the city. We provide everything from high tech infant care to cardiac surgery, to in-patient rehabilitation. We recently signed a definitive agreement with Barnabas Health.

DMN: What's been your overall attitude toward adopting new technology communication tools?

JS: We have taken a measured and pragmatic approach. Our goals are to support our physicians and clinicians in delivering even better patient care, patient safety, as well as improvements in efficiency. We have adopted Siemens Soarian EMR and a number of tools to make this accessible to our medical staff. For example, we have provided them with XEN Desktop, which turns their mobile tablet devices into hospital-based computers so that they can access our systems securely from any location.

DMN: What's been your staff policy for mobile phone use?

JS: It's been a concern. The majority of our medical staff and clinicians use a smartphone. They are using them for a wide range of uses in the day-to-day delivery of care.

We have a clear policy that texting using regular text is not allowed. We have educated the staff about the importance of securing PHI and the potential HIPAA violation. It's hard to police. The fact is that like many hospitals, the majority of our physicians are not employed by us so there's a limit to how tightly we can control their activities.

DMN: What prompted you to consider using a private, secure texting and communication network for staff?

JS: We adopted Practice Unite as our secure HIPAA-compliant platform at the start of the year. In the near-term our priority was to provide our medical staff and clinicians with a secure, HIPAA-compliant texting solution.

However, we saw this as an opportunity to address a number of other communications issues. Like many other hospitals, communicating to the medical staff can be a real challenge. They are too busy and inundated by emails, memos, letters, faxes, etc. As we know that nearly all the physicians are using their smartphones, it is the perfect channel to reach them with more targeted messages that they can read on their own terms.

What we liked about Practice Unite is that it could create a customized solution exclusively for our staff that would allow them to text each other securely and give us a new, more effective channel to reach the medical staff. It also allows the physicians to send each other consults and schedule outpatient procedures. We haven't seen anything else like it.

DMN: As a health care facility, why do you believe it's important to get on board with current communication technology?

JS: I think there's a balance between being a pioneer and taking a wait and see approach. We don't have the resources to innovate with technologies that may not work long-term, however, the changes we are facing in health care mean that we can't afford to sit on the sidelines and wait until it's all figured out.

Our CIO and his team have a deliberate approach to evaluating tools that will prepare us for where we think health care is going while delivering real benefits today.

DMN: What are some of the benefits it's bringing?

We have been delighted with Practice Unite. The doctors, especially our ER staff, love that it is now easy to send a quick text about a patient-related issue. For example, discharge and admission planning that would have taken hours for an ER physician to find and discuss with a patient's primary care physician can now be finalized within minutes. Recently an ER trauma case was discharged within minutes of physicians' communicating through Practice Unite. A call had been placed to the primary doctor's answering service, and more than an hour delay occurred prior to the Practice Unite communications.

It's cutting down the time it takes to resolve an issue. The feedback has been very positive.

It's been easier for the staff to find each other. The app makes it simple to search for a physician or other member of staff. They can either text each other securely or phone them through the app. For example our nurses can enter a consult into the EMR and then immediately alert the physician through Practice Unite that they have a patient that needs their attention. It's seamless.

I have my own CEO Connect button that lets me notify the staff when I need their help with an acute issue. For example, I notify the team if hold times are too long in the ER. It is already helping improve our discharge rate. It works two ways, as physicians can use it to send me feedback.

My administration is also using it to communicate news, events, reminders to the staff. They can target news by departments or by group and we know that they got the message.

The biggest surprise has been the medical staff's willingness to use their mobile device to send inpatient and outpatient consults as well as schedule procedures. The ROI has been great with Practice Unite. We think it paid for itself in a few months.

DMN: What's your advice to other hospitals and medical facilities considering adopting new communication tools like text messaging and patient portals?

JS: If you are trying to solve the problem of doctors sending each other unsecured texts, ask yourself if you can solve some other problems at the same time. With our solution, we addressed the unsecured text issue and created new ways to communicate with the staff, as well as creating new channels for consults and scheduling procedures.

We could have settled for a penknife, instead we got the Swiss Army knife.