6 Areas of Medicine that Benefit from Digital Health

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Digital health benefits

2018 has seen a significant boom in the application of technology in digital health innovation, which are poised to disrupt the healthcare industry. Innovations have included advances in mobile health (mHealth), health information technology (IT), as well as wearable and Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices.

cliexa has identified six specific areas of medicine already reaping the benefits of digital health innovation:

1. Rheumatology

Disease Activity Scoring (DAS) metrics remotely collected by cliexa from patients are used by physicians in their offices when assessing the severity of rheumatoid arthritis through a Q & A approach. cliexa empowers patients with the ability to communicate their patient-reported outcomes to their physicians at the touch of a finger, on their own mobile devices, providing physicians with instantly-scored clinically-validated assessments. The application of cliexa innovations in rheumatology drastically increases the efficiency and quality-of-care for both patients and their providers.

Check out the cliexa mobile platform for Rheumatoid Arthritis, cliexa-RA: //www.cliexa.com/cliexamobile/rheumatoid-arthritis/

2. Pain Management, Primary Care, & Integrative Medicine

Chronic pain, affecting over 10% of American adults, is a leading cause of opiate abuse. Managing and overcoming chronic pain is a complex obstacle for many healthcare providers. With the increased shift away from the prescribing of opioids in the treatment of chronic pain, cliexa enables providers to remotely monitors opioid-prescribed patients while empowering them to relay their patient-reported outcomes and track their mental health conditions in association with their chronic pain, while catering specifically towards the individual needs of each patient-provider relationship.

Check out the cliexa mobile platform for Pain Management, cliexa-EASE: //www.cliexa.com/cliexamobile/pain-management/

3. Behavioral Health & Addiction Treatment

Though struggles with addiction are becoming increasingly more prevalent in society, the present methods of addiction treatment are limited. Through innovations in health technologies, patients and providers are shifting towards new ways of treating addiction. The monitoring of patients in real-time is essential for positive treatment outcomes for both patients and their providers. By leveraging patient-reported data, patients adhere to their treatment plans and overcome addiction as a disease, rather than as a fault.

Check out the cliexa mobile platform for Behavioral Health, cliexa-SENSE: //www.cliexa.com/cliexamobile/behavioral-health/

4. Digestive Health

Through cliexa innovations, providers better manage chronic gastrointestinal diseases, such as inflammatory bowel disease or ulcerative colitis, using specifically-designed, highly-structured treatment plans that leverage disease activity scoring models taken from qualitative patient responses to assessments which quantify and track symptoms over long periods of time.

Check out the cliexa mobile platform for Digestive Health, cliexa-IBD: //www.cliexa.com/cliexamobile/inflammatory-bowel-disease/

5. Respiratory Care

cliexa enables providers to qualitatively track chronic diseases of the respiratory system, like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), through remote patient-reported outcomes. The ability to structure individualized and specialized care leads to improved patient-provider experiences.

Check out the cliexa mobile platform for Respiratory Care, cliexa-COPD: //www.cliexa.com/cliexamobile/chronic-obstructive-pulmonary-disease/

6. Pediatric Care

cliexa health technology drives innovations in mental health resiliency in adolescents, a hot topic in today’s health community. cliexa’s clinically validated medical assessment applications, coupled with its mHealth prevention services, help providers identify and reduce risk behaviors in adolescents and young adults. cliexa’s mobile patient-engagement applications equip providers with the tools adolescents use to overcome anxiety and depression, increasing the overall quality-of-care for both patients and providers.

Check out the cliexa mobile platform for Pediatric Care, cliexa-OPTIONS: //www.cliexa.com/cliexamobile/adolescent-resiliency/

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Challenges with Electronic Medical Record (EMR) Workflow

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Electronic Medical Record (EMR)

At some point in all of our lives, each of us has been a patient. Each of us has faced the benefits, trials, and tribulations of getting care, but very few of us have stood in the shoes of our physician. So, let’s take a look at what it can look like to be a doctor using an EMR system…

First, let’s talk about change. Most of us have undergone frustrating change at work. A change of leadership, new regulations or a new kind of copy paper. But how many of us have undergone a full up-end in our workflow process?

Widespread adoption of the Electronic Medical Record (EMR) system as the new way to organize and store patient data began in 2014 (//bit.ly/2NNghtd), prior to this time processes were largely paper and pen and manually filed.

As of 2015,

This process changed the way medical staff stored and communicated data and while there has been shown to benefit from the shift, the process was long and arduous. Remember that time you had to use Excel for the first time, yeah like that, times 100. Additionally, this change came along with a slew of new regulatory guidelines and reporting rules.

So how has life, post-EMR implementation? One study found that:

  • Physicians spend 49.2% of their time doing paperwork and EHR work
  • Physicians spend 27% of their time with patients.
    • 37.0% of this time with the patient was doing paperwork and EMR work (//bit.ly/2MBRXpG)

With so much time being dedicated to working, physicians are on a tight schedule to maintain their patient load and their desk work.

So how often does this schedule not work out as planned? One study found that:

  • 75% of physicians fall behind in their appointment schedule at least once a week.

Of this 75%:

  • 79% said that the reason for falling behind was that they spent more time than a single visit time allotment with patients.
  • 66% said the reason was that patients were late or didn’t have time to fill out the paperwork.
  • 49% spent time between appointments recording notes.
  • 78% said that appointments are booked too tightly together or were overbooked.

When asked, physicians listed things that they believed would improve their efficiency:

  • 43% said better technology
  • 38% said more non-clinical staff
  • 29% said fewer patients scheduled
  • 19% said more administrative staff (//wb.md/2Ni7joa)

The healthcare system as we know it has numerous opportunities for improvement across the board, but it is important to understand the challenges facing each participant. A collective understanding moves us closer to being able to stand in each others’ shoes and work together to improve the healthcare experience at every level. 

To learn more about how cliexa is solving these problems, download our FREE PDF on Chronic Care Management, and how to streamline clinical workflow.

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“STDs are a persistent enemy….”

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STDs are a persistent enemy
STDs are a persistent enemy

…Jonathan Mermin, director of the CDC’s National Center for STDs and TB Prevention, said in a news release last month. He added that the epidemic is, “…growing in number, and outpacing our ability to respond.” Over 50% of new cases of STDs occur in young people ages 15 – 24, Chlamydia cases the most prominent. Front-line defense–primary care clinics and overloaded physicians. They may feel they do not get honest answers or they don’t have time to ask difficult questions. Young people are not comfortable with face-to-face discussions about reproductive health.

Some physicians don’t know how to broach this sensitive conversation, “This is an awkward topic, especially for men and they avoid having these conversations. cliexa-OPTIONS gives male physicians and clinicians a tool to get through the awkwardness …This epidemic impacts females more because they are left holding the bag.”   So is it a lost cause? No, digital health offers promising solutions.

Why is Primary Care so Important?

Leveraging long-standing relationships with pediatricians and family physicians–an underutilized strategy on the front lines of this devastating battle, helps youth stay healthy. Young people respond to authentic conversations with people they know and trust.  Primary care screenings identify most new cases of Chlamydia. That’s where the cliexa-OPTIONS App, an innovative digital health technology,  plays a crucial role.

cliexa-OPTIONS reduces the cognitive load for clinicians by creating a structured report using our unique scoring algorithm. Our measures are more sensitive to cultural trends young people experience. Three levels of high risk allow tailored, pinpointed conversations that count. Our recent clinical pilot confirmed the benefits of the OPTIONS App.

Risk assessment quality was average before piloting the cliexa-OPTIONS App. After implementing cliexa-OPTIONS, physicians rated the quality of their sexual risk assessment as excellent. The cliexa-OPTIONS App improves reproductive health counseling by “making it easier for my patients to discuss what is REALLY going on with them.” Physicians said the App saves them time and all participants reported that cliexa-OPTIONS supports early identification of youth at highest risk of acquiring an STD.

Positive ROI increases revenue improves quality, tracks efforts, and supports better outcomes for young people. What’s not to love about the cliexa-OPTIONS App?? To find out how to get started, contact the cliexa team.

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