Digital Health News

The eHealth Centre of Excellence has created an Opioid Management Tool for TELUS PSS, and has now developed a version for OSCAR EMR!

The Opioid Management Tool is designed to enable primary care clinicians to deliver safe pain management practices and prescribing of opioids to their patient population.

Based on National Pain Centre’s 2017 Guidelines for Opioids for Chronic Non Cancer Pain, the tool assists clinicians in conducting a complete assessment and provides a tailored management plan that incorporates the patient’s goals, while adhering to current best practices.

The Opioid Management Tool comes with a list of functionalities to assist with clinical workflows. These include:

• Populating the most relevant information for a medical visit

• Creating a patient summary  

• Extensive list of screening resources:

• Opioid Agreement 

• Brief Pain Inventory 

• Opioid Risk Tool 

• Depression PHQ-9 Form 

• Urine Drug Test Forms

• Opioid Compliance Form 

The following tools are available:

• GAD7 (Generalized Anxiety Disorder)

• Calculate Morphine Equivalents 

• Opioid Tapering  

The following patient handouts are also available:

• Opioid Handout 

• Treatment Agreement 

• Naloxone Handout 

• Patch Exchange 

You can download the tool directly from our community portal!

Please click here to download the PDF.

Please click here to download the PDF.

What is changing with the Telus PSS update?

The latest release of Telus PSS (version 5.18) will now automatically calculate the morphine milligram equivalent (MME) score for patients who are currently taking an opioid medication.

Click here for full details on the Telus PSS (version 5.18) update.

What is the difference between MEQ and MME?

If you're familiar with our Opioid Management Toolkit, you may be wondering what the difference is between the tool's ability to calculate morphine equivalent (MEQ) vs. the update from Telus PS Suite that now includes the calculations of MME.

The MME and MEQ both provide equivalent information to the end user. The two terms can therefore be used interchangeably as they offer the same information output.

Telus PS Suite Update

Here is an example of how the MME will appear in Telus PS Suite:

Opioid Management Toolkit

Here is an example of how the MEQ appears in the Opioid Management Toolkit: 

This MEQ information will continue to be displayed in a convenient and easily accessible location, visible alongside screens, information sheets, and other resources that are applicable to the management of opioid prescriptions.

Interested in a demo? To see a demo of the Opioid Management toolkit and/or to learn more about the MEQ calculations, click here to complete the sign up sheet to set up a coaching session.

Did you know? You can download our EMR decisions support tools - at no cost to you - directly from our community portal!

The eHealth Centre of Excellence has created a COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) decision support tool in TELUS PS Suite EMR, incorporating input from Dr. James Milligan, Dr. Mohamed Alarakhia, Julia Hutton (NP), Dr. Neil Naik, and Dr. Kevin Samson. This tool guides clinicians through application of best practices and consistent documentation for COPD, supporting proactive care through informed decision making and appropriate steps to improve patient’s disease trajectory. 

An update to the COPD EMR tool has recently been released and can be accessed through our community portal. A detailed account of the upgrades is included below, as well as a demo of how the tool works.

Upgrades made to the COPD EMR tool:

• Displays patient’s co-morbidities; pulled from patient’s current problem list
• Graphing vitals and Dyspnea Scale results
• Update to the tool layout and design
• Up-to-date guidelines for COPD based on Canadian Thoracic Society Clinical Practice Guidelines updated in 2019
• Ability to schedule the next appointment for COPD, with a reminder message
• Ability to bill for various related COPD codes from directly within the tool
• Updated Custom medication plan
• New COPD action plan

Our digital health tools also hit some big milestones! Read more below:

The OTN eConsult platform underwent a big upgrade in November, enabling clinicians to access their local specialty groups more efficiently.

All Community Health Centres (CHCs) in Waterloo Wellington are now using tablets!

We made some great new updates for two of our EMR tools: the palliative care toolkit and our lower back pain tool.

We're looking forward to seeing what 2020 will bring! One thing is for sure: the future of healthcare is here.

The QBIC team is pleased to announce that an updated Low Back Pain EMR tool is now available for use in TELUS PS Suite EMRs!   The goal of this tool is support clinicians with targeted back pain assessment and management. This custom form will guide family physicians and/or nurse practitioners to recognize common mechanical back pain syndromes and screen for other conditions for which management may include investigations, referrals and specific medications.   Key features:​

• Integration of identification of the mechanical patterns for low back pain into patient history questions.
• Revised psychosocial yellow flags section, which includes questions and hints for providers to help identify patients who are at higher risk for developing chronicity.
• Patient key messages integrated throughout the tool.
• Management Matrix with suggestions for initial management based on the pain patterns of low back pain.

Clinical content for this tool has been adapted to align with guidelines such as the HQO Quality Standards for Low Back Pain and the Centre for Effective Practice – Clinically Organize Relevant Exam (CORE) Back Tool.

Interested in adopting this tool into your practice? Please contact Jeremy Howcroft at [email protected] today!

To view a list of all available EMR tools and services, click here for the QBIC catalogue.

The goal of this tool is to reduce the number of unnecessary diagnostic tests, improve wait times and enhance patient care. 

Clinical content has been adapted from guidelines such as;

• Centre for Effective Practice – Clinically Organize Relevant Exam (CORE) Back Tool
• Aligns with the HQO Quality Standards for Low Back Pain

Key features:

• Integration of identification of the mechanical patterns for low back pain into patient history questions.
• Revised psychosocial yellow flags section, which includes questions and hints for providers to help identify patients who are at higher risk for developing chronicity.
• Patient key messages integrated throughout the tool.
• Management Matrix with suggestions for initial management based on the pain patterns of low back pain.

Interested in learning more?

Webinar Details

Date: Wednesday, January 23rd

Time: 12:00pm – 1:00pm

Location: Please join my meeting from your computer, tablet or smartphone: https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/507059549

OR in-person at 419 Phillip St. South Waterloo, Algonquin Room

Details

The Palliative webinar, hosted by the eHealth Centre of Excellence’s QBIC team along with guest speaker Dr. Rachael Halligan, highlights the recently released Palliative Tool that aims to help assist PCPs in the early identification of patients that would benefit from a palliative approach to care.

Additionally, many local and provincial resources are also included in the tool along with the ability to easily document and bill palliative visits. Dr. Halligan, the Regional Primary Care Cancer Lead will demonstrate how the tool can be used with a detailed case study.

Registration

To register, please click here or contact [email protected]

Following the Waterloo Wellington Integrated Hospice Palliative Care Regional Program Early Identification & Prognostic Indicator Guide, adapted from the Gold Standards Framework (GSF), the Palliative EMR toolkit was developed to assist primary care providers (PCP) in earlier identification of patients nearing the end of life, who could benefit from a palliative approach to care.

Prompted by the Surprise Question, based on general and specific indicators detailed in the GSF (i.e. “Would you be surprised if the patient were to die within the next year?”), the PCP is provided decision support in assessing the palliative needs of the patient and is then provided with the appropriate Waterloo Wellington resources, relative to the patient’s current Palliative Performance Scale (PPS) phase.

Highlights of the tool include that it:

• Is designed to assist PCPs in the early identification of patients nearing the end of life and/or who could benefit from a palliative care approach
• Follows the Waterloo Wellington Integrated Hospice Palliative Care Regional Program Early Identification & Prognostic Indicator Guide (“Would you be surprised if the patient were to die within the next year?”)
• Provides easy billing for a palliative visit (K023) and details additional bonuses
• Provides local resources that are appropriate for the current Palliative Performance Scale (PPS) phase of the patient
• Available for Telus PS Suite EMR

Examples of resources available within the Palliative Care Tool:

• Patient goal planning
• Local referrals to hospice services
• LHIN resources
• Substitute Decision Maker (SDM)
• Conversation guides
• Community supports

In cases where the patient’s current needs would not be fulfilled through the palliative approach to care, the PCP is provided with Advance Care Planning tools that allow them to customize a reassessment date where the Surprise Question can be asked again.

Billing

The Palliative Visit Form (Image on the right) provides a framework for PCPs to properly document and bill palliative visits in a variety of scenarios. Billing can be as simple as documenting a K023 for an office palliative visit greater than 20 minutes. More complex visits, such as house visits with added special visit premiums, can also be documented.

Additional incentives, such as the Special Premium Bonus for having 4 or more patients with a billed K023, are also detailed within the tool.

The Palliative Care Toolkit is available in Telus Practice Solutions in two ways: As a button, added to an existing toolbar or as a stand-alone toolbar.

For more information on how to obtain the Palliative Care Toolkit please contact Justin Wolting.

Did you miss our webinar on Standardizing Primary Care Information through the use of EMR tools? We've includeded the presentation deck below for you to review!

Description

Looking to demo an EMR tool that support clinicians with data quality clean up and then explain the clinical value for primary care providers and their patients.

Download the PDF version of the presentation here.

Have a question? Please email: [email protected]