While it is estimated that about 80% of COVID-19 patients will experience mild illness and be managed as outpatients, these patients still require proper care and guidance to reduce disease transmission.
Implementation of tools to support community health and outpatient management are essential. 
The primary goals of ambulatory platforms are to:
• Lower healthcare system burden by directing patients to the correct level of care
• Reduce community spread of disease
Allscripts is committed to guiding our clients toward these goals. As this public health emergency has taught us, the health of an individual can impact the health of all.
Telehealth platforms and virtual visits
As we are currently seeing in New York City, hotspots will experience a surge in patients seeking care, complicated by reduced hospital resources and social distancing guidelines that impact typical physician office hours.
In addition to managing Persons Under Investigation (PUI) or patients who are positive for COVID-19, there are many patients who require ongoing, regular care management for a variety of chronic illnesses.
Telehealth platforms and virtual visits support screening of PUIs for COVID-19, proper management and follow-up of ambulatory-level patients who are COVID-19 positive, and appropriate ongoing care for those patients who have multiple comorbidities and require regular care.
For suspected or confirmed COVID-19 patients, telehealth and virtual visits help reduce community spread and optimize patient education about care management, self-quarantine, and when to seek a higher level of care. Those “at-risk” patients (i.e. those with comorbidities or who are greater than 60 years old) will be able to continue to receive their standard of care and to maintain or optimize their health safely without risk of exposure.
Telehealth solutions also keep them out of already overwhelmed hospitals. Learn more about virtual solutions here.
Emergency Department (ED) and ambulatory follow-up boards
As hotspots experience a surge in patients seeking care, the ability for ambulatory providers to track PUIs and COVID-19-positive patients is essential for proper care management.
ED providers need to prioritize care for the sickest patients, triaging those with mild symptoms, potentially testing them and sending them home. These patients will want assurance that they will be notified of their test results as soon as available, and providers will want to ensure this patient population is not lost to follow-up.The goals of COVID outpatient management are to track patients from the point of symptoms, through screening and upon receiving COVID results to ensure appropriate care, education, and to minimize community spread.
ED and ambulatory follow-up boards enable optimized outpatient management, thereby reducing the burden on the healthcare system and its patient load. The ED follow-up board assists in transitioning patients to the appropriate level of care as they leave the ED to be managed at home.
Real-time analytics
In a rapidly evolving healthcare landscape, access to clinical and operational data in order to generate meaningful insights and guide patient care is key for our clients. Real-time data and analytics enable clients to study this novel coronavirus’ behavior and identify trends to optimize care delivery from a clinical and operational perspective.
Allscripts Clinical Performance Manager (CPM) enables clients to gather data on suspected or confirmed COVID-19 patients in their community. Health systems will be able to identify COVID-19-positive patient rates of growth, monitor clinical behavior and the level of care required, and track resource utilization to optimize health system operations and preparedness and guide clinical decision making.
Clinical guidance
COVID-19 has required all hands on deck to manage effectively. Clinical staff members are frequently pulled into clinical arenas that may be different from their daily practice. Clear guidance is needed to properly care for these patients.
Allscripts clinical documentation and COVID-19 screening tools help clinicians triage and screen patients virtually via command centers or nursing hotlines. These tools are based on CDC practice recommendations and support patient education to improve patient engagement and reduce disease transmission. COVID-19 recommendations have been rapidly evolving. Allscripts COVID-19 documentation enables link-outs to the CDC to ensure our clients are receiving the current recommendations at the point of care.
Allscripts teams have acted rapidly to ensure our clients and their surrounding communities have the tools to fight COVID-19 effectively, and Allscripts continues to be committed to working alongside clients to bring new tools to light.
Allscripts has the solutions you need to combat the spread of COVID-19. Learn more here.
Editor's Note: This article originally appeared on Allscripts' website.