2 healthcare organizations integrate decision-focused health content and technology – helping people make better health decisions over the telephone

Healthcare technology vendor Clinical Solutions and nonprofit health content provider Healthwise will together help call center clinicians give patients the health information they need when they need it.

In an agreement announced this week, the integration of Healthwise^® Connect with Clinical Solutions’ IntefleCS™ Telephone Triage will give health care organizations seamless access to medically-reviewed and evidence-based health information -- thereby promoting shared decision-making. In addition, specific details, including health topics as well as patient responses and critical outcomes, will be automatically transferred from Healthwise Connect to the Clinical Solutions system and charted on the patient’s record.

“People demand services that match their lifestyle. And through telephone triage, health care providers can offer not only safe and convenient access to trusted information but also direction to the most appropriate level of care," states John Stevens, Clinical Solutions Director. "I’m confident that Healthwise Connect, accompanied with the decision-support technology from Clinical Solutions, will form a robust offering for many health care providers in North America.”

Healthwise CEO Don Kemper adds, “For a new mom whose child has a fever, for a middle-aged man considering back surgery, or for an older woman focused on the pros and cons of hip replacement surgery, Clinical Solutions and Healthwise can help people get the right information to help them make the best health care decisions. The Healthwise-Clinical Solutions agreement will help improve health outcomes for thousands, if not millions, of people in the United States and Canada.”

Healthwise interactive symptom topics help clinicians assess each caller’s symptoms and determine the appropriate treatment or care. Healthwise Connect’s easy-to-use clinician-facing interface follows consistent, medically reviewed triage and logic for reliable outcomes. The interface accepts information from Clinical Solutions application to customize the experience for age and gender. And the caller’s responses help guide the clinician to ask only those questions relevant to the caller and his or her health issue.

Healthwise Connect links call-tracking software to the in-depth and actionable health information in the Healthwise Knowledgebase. The Healthwise Knowledgebase includes topics on health conditions, medical tests and procedures, medicines, decision-support tools, and everyday health and wellness issues.

Healthwise is a nonprofit organization with a mission to help people make better health decisions. Nearly 120 million times a year, people turn to Healthwise information to learn how to do more for themselves, ask for the care they need, and say “no” to the care they don’t need. Healthwise partners with health plans, hospitals, disease management companies, and health Web sites to provide up-to-date, evidence-based information to the people they serve.

To learn more about the Healthwise decision-support products, visit www.healthwise.org.