Hospitals and health systems with an Epic EHR can use various tools within the system to help treat and prevent the spread of COVID-19, according to a March 9 company blog post.
Here are five things to know about Epic's tools:
1. Through Epic's interoperability network, healthcare clients can share travel screening documentation and infection status information with both Epic and non-Epic organizations.
2. Patients with symptoms of COVID-19 can use Epic's electronic visits, MyChart messages or video visit functions to virtually connect with clinicians without going to the hospital and potentially infecting others.
3. In January, the EHR giant released an automatic software update to its standard travel screening questionnaire to help hospital clients identify new cases of the coronavirus by asking patients about their recent international travel.
4. Epic's analytics tool SlicerDicer allows physicians and researchers to create their own reports to better examine how COVID-19 is affecting patients in their communities.
5. Epic created reports in its foundation system, a forum where clients can share their successful EHR tools and workflows, to track and follow up with patients who haven't been screened for travel to areas where the coronavirus is quickly spreading.