EmergAlert - Overview

Linking Community Care with Emergency Departments

EmergAlert is a fully automated system which connects to all emergency department registrations to check if a new patient is currently receiving home care services from their local community care provider. When a match is made, the emergency department staff, community care dispatcher and/or case worker are all notified automatically and in real time.

The challenge

Emergency Departments (ED) sometimes have to process patients that could be better handled through a community care programme. These patients either don’t think to tell the ED that they are a patient within a Community Care programme, or they are confused and seeking help. Either way, valuable time and money is spent helping these patients before the hospital is able to discharge them. If EDs can implement solutions that move people in to more appropriate care settings, more quickly, then they can reduce ED wait times, reduce repeat visits and reduce the number of admissions.

The solution

EmergAlert is a simple, proven, software solution that allows ED departments and Community Care Providers to share information and talk to each other. When a new patient presents at an ED, the EmergAlert software checks the Community Care databases to see if this patient is already in their system and instantly and automatically alerts the ED staff. This allows the ED staff to work with the Community Care personnel, who are frequently already on-site, to determine the most appropriate care and expedite the patient’s transition home. EmergAlert supplements the existing healthcare system and processes, allowing the health personnel to make more informed decisions.

The outcomes

EmergAlert delivers many positive outcomes.

• Reduced wait times
  By giving ED staff quick information on their patients it allows them to work with Community Care staff to process them, more quickly.
• Decrease in length of stay - both emergency department and inpatient
  ED staff, hospital staff and Community Care staff can work together to find a solution that helps the patient and reduces unnecessary time spent in the hospital/ED.
• Decrease in emergency department admissions
  By identifying reasons why Community Care clients are presenting at ED, Community Care staff can develop individual client solutions that help them get appropriate treatment and assistance, without having to go to the ED.
• Decrease in inpatient admissions
  By identifying Community Care patients at the point of presentation to ED, Customer Care personnel can immediately start work with ED staff to find an appropriate alternative solution to admission to the hospital.
• Increased communication between hospitals and their Community Care partners
  The system encourages hospitals and their Community Care partners to share notes and information on patients with each other to determine the best, fastest and most effective treatments.
• Increased patient satisfaction
  With patients having access to the best, fastest and most effective treatments, patient satisfaction increases.