Greg Taylor, DO, medical director of Camden, N.J.-based Cooper Care Alliance, the Cooper University Health Care’s community-based physician group, said he sees the problem worsening over the next five years.
“Any and all innovations that allow for greater access to care at a lower cost will create the greatest disruption,” he told Becker’s. “Leveraging technology to improve access to care from outside the hospital / office setting will create the largest disruption over the next five years.”
Cooper Care Alliance, like most hospitals and physician groups, offers telemedicine any time throughout the year, with patients self-scheduling appointments online. The medical team can also schedule patient appointments and provide technical support as needed. But managing patient requests, messages and more can be taxing for physicians and nurses with a high volume of requests. The continuous pings from patients leads to stress and burnout for care teams.
The team at Cooper Care Alliance built an “inboxologist” program to better coordinate care.
“Many of these appointments are generated through our ‘inboxologist’ program where an advanced practice provider will scan the phone and portal messages to generate appropriate appointments,” said Dr. Taylor.
The group hired a registered nurse with 20 years of experience as its first inboxologist, according to SJ Mag Media, who can triage emails to the right practitioner as well as prescribe medications, give advance and interpret lab work. The physicians working with the inboxologist reported 25% fewer messages at the end of the day, according to the report.
“Approximately 90% of the messages are quick and easy, but when it’s something serious, it can’t wait in an inbox,” Dr. Taylor told SJ Mag. “I believe this will be the norm five years from now. And both patients and providers will benefit from this new approach.”
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