DOHC Uses App to Identify COVID-19 Patients

PALM SPRINGS — In this fast-paced, ever-changing world of technology you can find an app for everything from weight loss to ordering take out. There’s even an app that helps Desert Oasis Healthcare (DOHC) staff identify COVID-19 patients.

More than 7,400 DOHC patients have been screened prior to their appointments and 831 have been monitored during COVID-19 self-isolation, according to DOHC. Patients received a brief screening survey along with their text message appointment reminder inquiring about current symptoms and potential exposure to COVID-19. Patient responses were captured within the Electronic Health Record and analyzed by clinical teams.

Based on their responses, patients received guidance on next steps – for example, whether they could continue with preventive best practices, self-isolate or obtain testing and further evaluation. Those individuals instructed to self-isolate continued to be monitored for worsening symptoms, mental health distress and social needs – such as access to food and their usual medications during quarantine.

“COVID-19 presents a number of challenges that require all members of our patient care teams to be nimble, flexible, and ready to change from one day to the next,” Lindsey Valenzuela  Administrator of Population Health and Prescription Management at Desert Oasis Healthcare, said in a prepared statement. “Working with our partners at Rimidi and their app that integrates with our electronic health record has made that a simpler job,” says

Rimidi’s COVID-19 Triage and Monitoring app helps protect patients and DOHC healthcare workers from infection while driving efficiencies in rapidly evolving clinical workflows. Since the app can query the DOHC electronic health record (EHR,) it proactively seeks out those patients in high-risk populations – those who are 65 and older, immunosuppressed, have chronic diseases, etc. – and sends surveys to engage them around their risk for COVID-19.

The app’s “remote triage” of the patient helps eliminate risk of them infecting a general clinic population, including DOHC staff. The app also recommends next actions, based on current CDC guidelines, to decrease demands on triage phone systems, and automates follow-up check-ins for patients who are self-isolating and self-monitoring.

“Rimidi has been a big help as we shifted all of our in-clinic visits to virtual in the epidemic,” Valenzuela said. “Now, we are in discussions about how to prioritize face to face visits in concert with virtual visits.”

 

About Desert Oasis Healthcare

Formed in 1981 as one of the first medical groups in the desert communities of southern California, Desert Oasis Healthcare (DOHC) continues to advance with changes in the healthcare market. DOHC provides primary and immediate care, home health, palliative care, and other services to more than 60,000 members/patients living in the greater Coachella Valley and the Morongo Basin of Riverside and San Bernardino counties. The multidisciplinary and comprehensive care programs of DOHC are committed to educating individuals on preventive health care in their daily lives, reflected in the DOHC motto, “Your Health. Your Life. Our Passion.” For more information, visit www.mydohc.com.

 

About Rimidi

Rimidi is a cloud-based software platform that enables personalized management of health conditions across populations. Created by doctors, Rimidi avoids the disconnect in connected care by combining patient-generated health data with clinical data from the EHR to drive patient-specific clinical insights and actions. The net effect is a better health system with optimized clinical workflows that enable better decisions, better relationships, better outcomes and ultimately a better healthcare system. For more information, visit rimidi.com.