DrConnect: Your Link to Innovation
Online Cleveland Clinic Program Gives Practices Competitive Edge
Dr. Dennis Vidmar’s thriving dermatology practice in Erie, Pa., normally runs as smoothly as the silky skin he helps attain for many of his patients. But there was one bumpy pimple in the practice that he and his six colleagues sought to erase. This blemish was the delay in communication between their practice and the consulting physicians at Cleveland Clinic.
“We try to send the majority of our tertiary care patients to Cleveland Clinic because it is better, and it is closer than Pittsburgh,” says Dr. Vidmar, whose seven-provider group includes five physicians and two physician assistants. “But it would take two to three weeks before we received a consultation via snail mail. We wanted to bridge that communication gap.”
Enter Cleveland Clinic’s DrConnect Web portal, a secure, online program that connects physicians around the world to Cleveland Clinic and offers a new level of professional collaboration. The program brings near real-time patient treatment information direct to referring physicians’ offices every day for effective case and time management.
Dr. Vidmar learned about DrConnect through his association with Cleveland Clinic CompreCare Affiliate Program, a physician liaison program. “It didn’t take much to apply to use DrConnect,” he says. “I simply downloaded a registration form and filled it out. Within a week, I got my password, and I was ready to go. Now whenever there is a new activity for one of our patients, we receive an email reminder to log on to DrConnect, where we can view the details online. This is a very, very nice program.
“We see 250 to 300 patients a day and send two or three patients a week to Cleveland Clinic,” he adds. “Sometimes I get a report on a patient overnight. Then I can call the patient in the morning to discuss their case. They are stunned at the quick response and are very appreciative.”
Originally introduced in 2006, Cleveland Clinic’s DrConnect program is now utilized by thousands of physicians in more than 30 countries around the world. These professionals are linked to a sophisticated electronic medical record (EMR) system that serves as an information technology infrastructure unifying the main campus hospital complex, 13 regional Ohio Family Health Center locations, 11 local community hospitals, Cleveland Clinic Florida, and Cleveland Clinic Canada into what is essentially a common practice environment.
Dr. Vidmar and two of his colleagues at Dermatology Associates of Erie currently use DrConnect to review electronic medical record information generated about their patients as they move through the diagnostic and treatment process at Cleveland Clinic. This information may include laboratory and imaging study results, medication data, patient histories and reports on patient encounters.
“At 100 miles away from the main campus of Cleveland Clinic, we’re not terribly far,” says Dr. Vidmar. “Yet, it’s not like we’re just around the corner. With DrConnect, we simply log on and hit the ‘What’s New’ tab to see the most recent information on a patient.”
A case in point
“The most recent case I had was a gentleman with nodules on his chin,” Dr. Vidmar notes. “I had a good idea of what it was, and conducted the appropriate lab work and biopsy. Yet, I thought a second opinion was a good idea. So I sent the patient to Cleveland Clinic. The very next day after the patient’s visit to Cleveland Clinic, I received a report that confirmed my diagnosis and treatment plan.”
Designed specifically to meet the needs of busy medical practices, DrConnect automatically generates a single, daily email notification to alert physicians using the service each time a new item is added to a patient’s EMR. These emails contain no private patient information, and only the physician or authorized member of the office staff can view them.
“Once a physician refers a patient to Cleveland Clinic, the collaboration begins,” says Jonathan L. Schaffer, MD, MBA, managing director of eCleveland Clinic. “As their patients receive their consultation and care at Cleveland Clinic, DrConnect keeps the care teams connected and well informed. We are in the business of helping referring doctors arrive at the best options for the health care of their patients. Through the use of DrConnect, those referring doctors are able to continue the care process with a complete set of information as the patient returns home and back in their care.
Dr. Vidmar typically sends patients to Cleveland Clinic for cases representing what he calls “diagnostic conundrums.” When strange rashes or eruptions occur, he feels most comfortable when the patient can receive a fresh set of diagnostic viewpoints and therapeutic answers. “This reassures the patient that their case has had a second set of eyes on it,” he explains.
A former member of the military, Dr. Vidmar handled medical information technology for the Navy 15 years ago, an experience that made him especially technologically savvy. “DrConnect is reasonably intuitive to use,” he says, referring to the easy navigation made possible by clearly marked-and-dated documents featuring simple point-and-click tabs.
“DrConnect takes your practice to the next level and enables you to establish good communications with your consulting network, which may have been previously inconvenient and awkward,” says Dr. Vidmar. “I think any practice that is not linked to DrConnect is at a disadvantage.”
Many physicians use DrConnect on their own laptops while out of the office, so that they can conveniently keep tabs on patient cases. All it takes is access to the Internet for physicians who are not a direct part of Cleveland Clinic to feel like active members of the treatment team.
