The VA Provider Digital Health (DHC) Committee meets regularly; members work to identify Cerner changes that would be most helpful to providers. VPSA provides sessional funding to the nine physician representatives on the committee for time spent in meetings and doing other committee work.

The following is a summary of the committee’s March 11th meeting.

Portal update

A public campaign has created increased awareness of the portal, with a significant growth in engagement since its launch: 12,000 users have accessed their clinical documents, results or information; 82 users established proxy access. Early indicators suggest a smooth adoption of the portal with no major concerns from clinicians.

AutoText Optimization project

The first of two concurrent projects, the committee will work to develop standards and identify issues with current AutoText templates. Initial objectives will be to conduct an assessment of the most frequently accessed AutoTexts currently in system, reviewing characteristics of useful AutoTexts and determining documentation structure that benefits from thoughtful AutoText integration. Consistency in AutoText usage is a step forward in improving documentation clarity and conciseness.

Provider Communication

The second committee project focuses on making communication system improvements. Communication consistency is challenging and varies by service, time of day, and individual preferences. Teams was discussed as a temporary solution but has several drawbacks. It was noted that the new St. Paul’s Hospital will be using PerfectServe; a purpose-built communication platform.

The idea of a knowledge-sharing platform was floated—a centralized place to record local workflows. Governance is the main issue in terms of who writes, reviews and updates information.

Committee members will investigate feasibility of the above solutions in collaboration with leadership. Once scope is defined, a subcommittee will be formed to move this work forward.

Next Meeting

The committee meets again on April 8th. If you have an item you wish to be brought forward at one of these meetings, please contact Laura Mc Evoy, Manager, Provider Strategic Initiatives & Engagement at VCH.