eClinicalWorks signs agreement with Healthwise to provide two Healthwise solutions to help its physicians

Oct 8 2009

eClinicalWorks and Healthwise announced today an agreement to provide two Healthwise solutions to eClinicalWorks physician clients. Healthwise Information Therapy (Ix) Patient Instructions, take-home patient educational materials, integrates within the eClinicalWorks EMR; and the Healthwise Knowledgebase, an online health information library, has patient-specific connections within the eClinicalWorks secure Patient Portal.

Healthwise information embedded within eClinicalWorks helps physicians improve care quality and provide patient education at the point of care, maintaining their workflow efficiency. And when patients get home they can connect from the in-hand information, received from their physicians, to more information online in their personal health record (PHR) within eClinicalWorks Patient Portal. The additional information, triggered by their PHR, will include specific content and tools related to their visit, including medical tests, procedures, or medicines discussed during the health care visit.

"Patient information is important both at the point of care and at home, where the patient may have additional questions," said Girish Kumar Navani, CEO and co-founder of eClinicalWorks. "Working with Healthwise will help our customers form a tighter relationship with their patients by offering details about certain conditions and diagnosis so that patients can be better educated about their health care."

Healthwise Ix Patient Instructions include more than 1,500 evidence-based health topics and include Go-to-Web codes directly linking patients to more than 6,000 health topics in the Healthwise Knowledgebase product. The health content educates patients, helps them take an active role in their care, and helps them make better decisions with their doctors.

"The value of good health information and patient decision aids is never greater than when it is prescribed by a physician to his or her patient as part of the care delivered," said Donald W. Kemper, Healthwise chairman and CEO. "Through eClinicalWorks, physicians can now prescribe the self-management support each patient needs with a simple click of the mouse."

How the eClinicalWorks and Healthwise Integration Will Work:

To illustrate how Healthwise information will integrate with eClinicalWorks EMR and Patient Portal, picture "Nancy," a patient with low back pain.

During her physical exam, her diagnosis data triggers the eClinicalWorks EMR and then, as part of the regular workflow, the clinician can print and give her a two-page, Healthwise Ix Patient Instruction on low back pain. The Healthwise Ix Patient Instruction includes information about low back pain, how Nancy can care for her back at home, and actionable instructions on how to do more for herself to manage her condition. When Nancy gets home, she logs into the secure eClinicalWorks Patient Portal where she finds her PHR already has links to more information about low back pain from the Healthwise Knowledgebase product.

If she had a medical test or if her doctor discussed surgery as a treatment option for back pain, then she'd also find a link to a relevant Healthwise Decision Point to help guide her through her decision.