Major Health Partners

Facilitates Communication Between Acute and Ambulatory Settings With Expanse Oncology

Jill Cole, MD, an oncologist at Major Health Partners, makes a point of meeting with her patients before every single infusion. She believes in maintaining an open dialog with them – a testament to the hands-on care she provides. Equally important is keeping patients’ care teams aligned.

“Quality cancer care isn’t just about patient-provider communication. It’s about communication among the entire care team, regardless of whether they’re in the acute or ambulatory setting,” said Dr. Cole.

To improve information sharing across care settings, MHP’s leadership team took advantage of the opportunity to implement MEDITECH’s Expanse Oncology as an early adopter. Live since April 2021, MHP is realizing considerable benefits from the solution.

“Communication between our acute and ambulatory settings has created a sense of inclusiveness,” said Director of Oncology Travis Reeves. “It has been one of the biggest improvements MHP has seen since going live with Expanse Oncology.”

Keeping care teams connected

MEDITECH’s inherent integration has helped to make these improvements a reality. Because Expanse Oncology is an integrated solution within MHP’s Expanse EHR, care teams in the oncology clinic and the hospital are always on the same page. Information is shared in near-real time; the entire organization can see documentation, messages, and tasks instantaneously, improving the quality of care.

“Nurses no longer need to serve as go-betweens,” said Medical Oncology Manager Jill Blankinship, RN. “Oncologists and other providers are aware of any other care their patients may receive.”

As a complete outpatient solution, Expanse Oncology brings oncologists into the ambulatory setting, while providing full ambulatory functionality to support front-end staff. In addition, nurses are able to leverage status boards, nursing assessments, and other features available in Expanse Patient Care.

Enhancing efficiency through communication

Keeping everyone on the same page can be challenging, especially when the number of patients has soared and staffing remains consistent.

“We used to have 30 patients on oral chemotherapy, but that number has grown to almost 50 patients,” said Blankinship. “We’re also maxing out on consults, but improved communication has had a positive impact on efficiency.”

One feature that has proved invaluable to Dr. Cole is Workload Tasking and Messaging. Through this centralized workload area, Dr. Cole is able to communicate across the entire MHP organization.

“Workload Tasking and Messaging has been really helpful,” she said. “It reduced my sticky notes dramatically. Plus, it’s more efficient and trackable.”

Acting as a physician inbox, Workload centralizes oncologists’ messages, tasks, addendums, cosigns, lab results, and patient portal messages. Time parameters can be assigned to communications, so all parties know when items are overdue or must be reviewed. As a result, dictations are completed and approved almost immediately.

“The clinic’s volumes have skyrocketed in recent years,” said Director of Clinical Informatics/Technology David Augsburger. “But they've been able to handle the growth with support from Expanse Oncology.”