Terry Edwards, CEO & President, Perfectserve As a gamut of technology topics traverses during the HIMSS Conference 2017, Terry Edwards, CEO and President, PerfectServe delivered the ‘magnum opus’ speech of the event, by demonstrating the need for clinicians to respond proactively to a patient’s current condition. At US’s largest healthcare IT convention, the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society Conference 2017, Edwards answers, “The ability to intelligently route real-time data anytime and from anywhere in the care environment to the right care team member who can take quick action remains a significant challenge in healthcare.” As the attendees—more than 40,000 healthcare IT and clinical leaders—converge to see Edwards in the spotlight, the veteran enlightens them on PerfectServe’s comprehensive clinical communication and care team collaboration platform, the PerfectServe Synchrony. The attendees witness as the demonstration showcases medical device and alarm data routed instantly through a secure mobile platform and provides care team members, both within and outside the walls of the hospital with at-the-moment insights into a patient’s condition. Thus, solving the communication and collaboration impediments.
The requirement to better coordinate patient care among providers across facilities has augmented and enabled more reliable, secure, and collaborative communication processes has climbed up the priority list for healthcare organizations. However, most of the existing solutions fail to address the complexity inherent in today’s clinical communication-driven workflows and processes. With its core mission to address this challenge, PerfectServe streamlines and secures clinical communications across the entire healthcare continuum by automatically identifying and providing immediate connection to the right care team members. “PerfectServe connects clinicians to the right providers, which helps them make decisions more quickly and speed time to treatment,” says Edwards.
The Perfect Solution
Featuring Dynamic Intelligent Routing, a proprietary technology that automatically identifies and provides immediate connection to the right care team member, PerfectServe Synchrony delivers a comprehensive clinical communication and care team collaboration platform. “Many of our clients want to standardize their communication processes and bring all of their healthcare providers under one single platform,” explains Edwards. Including both web and mobile applications for physicians, nurses, and other healthcare professionals, PerfectServe Synchrony specifically targets care team communication and collaboration obstacles that degrade care.
The solution automatically identifies and provides immediate access to the right care team member and enables effective population health management by enabling communication-driven clinical workflows.
With the help of this solution, PerfectServe users are able to expedite patient transition events and also facilitate timely care team collaboration. “We have been and will continue to be a strategic partner in helping to break down communication silos and improving quality metrics,” claims Edwards.
In the deployment process, PerfectServe consultants work with providers on a regular basis to learn their communication process rules, suggest improvements and then configure the dynamic routing algorithms into the platform. “With access provided by a mobile application, web, and the phone, clinicians can simply click on or say the name of the person they want to reach and PerfectServe Synchrony will connect them to that provider or the right person covering the given clinical situation and other variables such as time, day, originator’s role, call schedules, and more,” adds Edwards. With an aim to speed up the communication cycle, the firm allows for faster information exchange and reduces delay in treatment.
A Comprehensive Platform
PerfectServe Synchrony is a comprehensive and secure communications platform that routes voice, text, web, and system algorithms based on clinical workflows and personalized algorithms. Physicians, clinical teams, and practice groups are thus allowed to filter and control, when and how they should be contacted, selectively. Communication events are filtered by the firm’s rules engine based on multiple variables, which can be updated easily though a mobile device. The rules engine has been designed to recognize whether PHI is included in a message; which can be sent in its entirety to a secured device. An alert is sent if the device which receives the data is not secure.
We assist healthcare
organizations by
making it easy for one
care team member
to contact the right
person they need to
coordinate with at the
right time
Using Synchrony, an individual or a patient can use the web-based texting function to contact a physician. By indicating the name of the physician or specialty, the caller is then connected automatically via the communication mode preferred by the physician at that point in time. An alert is generated and sent to the patient in case, the physician prefers not to take the text or the call. Furthermore, the ongoing process is documented in PerfectServe’s database and calls and messages can be routed accordingly.
Data is housed in a secured manner in the PerfectServe server rather than the receipt’s device—ensuring compliance with the HIPAA regulations which optimizes the communication across the care continuum and supporting improved care coordination.
The Difference-Maker
PerfectServe stands ahead of the competition for its ability to enable communication by resolving and providing solutions in a very dynamic way.
With an industry presence of more than a decade, PerfectServe has been providing best-of-breed solutions to its clients. “PerfectServe’s core differentiation is the ability to assemble and maintain dynamic, intelligent routing algorithms for each practitioner and other care team members. This improves communications process accuracy and helps hospitals better manage risk and improve patient safety and operational efficiency,” says Edwards. PerfectServe offers practical solutions that minimize communications breakdowns by systematically organizing all the variables at play for every clinical communications workflow. “We assist healthcare organizations by making it easy for one care team member to contact the right person they need to coordinate with at the right time,” adds Edwards.
One of the many prestigious clients of PerfectServe, IPC Healthcare felt the difference when it implemented the firm’s solution to address its pressing communication needs. The organization had used an electronic voice system with alphanumeric paging for years. However, with the expansion of IPC, this communication process became untenable. When physicians returned calls, they had no information about the caller or the facility, and often the person answering the call was unaware who had placed the page, leading to care delays and frustration. In addition, the group used a time-consuming phone-based process to update its call schedule. “The live service didn’t have the staffing to keep up with the call volume. It was a nightmare, unacceptable for nurses and physicians,” states Jo-Ann Reilly, Director of Practice Management and Business Development, IPC. PerfectServe effectively handled the group’s large volumes of calls and complicated schedule. In contrast to the hold-time delays with the live answering service, with PerfectServe, physicians received and retrieved most calls and messages within five minutes. According to Reilly, nursing staff appreciate the rapid response time. “The nurses love that they can get a hold of doctors quickly. Calls are getting to the right doctor at the right time, which has helped streamline care.”
Perfection Achieved! What’s next?
2017 has been fruitful for PerfectServe so far. The firm has signed multi-year contracts with prestigious healthcare institutions and has also been named in Gartner’s Market Guide for Clinical Communication and Collaboration 2017. “We’re honored and proud to partner with Hospital for Special Surgery,” mentions Edwards. “Surgeons, nurses, and other care team members involved in transmitting information will be empowered as PerfectServe eliminates the communication barriers that hinder clinical workflows, speeding the delivery of care.”
"Our goal is to drive collaboration among all stakeholders— including the patient—across all care settings"
With the recent accolades and partnerships under their belt, the question arises, what’s next for PerfectServe? The company is expanding its capabilities further and also increasing investments to achieve the evolving needs of care teams, and bring patients on its platform. “PerfectServe will continue its trajectory of evolving product innovation of its enterprise, next-generation offering in acute care to transcend geographic and organizational barriers. Our goal is to drive collaboration among all stakeholders—including the patient—across all care settings,” concludes Edwards.
