Faster Referral Follow-up for Foster Patients

San Diego County has around 2,500 children in foster care, and these patients might have medical, developmental, and psychosocial problems stemming from childhood trauma requiring more frequent monitoring of their health status. As the provider of care for more than 90% of the specialty pediatric population in the area, Rady Children’s wanted to help the public health nurses who work with foster children ensure that these children receive the follow-up care they need. By giving public health nurses access to their patients’ charts through EpicCare Link, Rady saw a 67% increase in scheduled follow-up care while simultaneously reducing faxes and a need to depend on paper charts.

County public health nurses use EpicCare Link to check in on foster patients they are responsible for, without waiting for faxes or paper records. They review any consult notes and other relevant information from patients’ charts after patients have had office visits at Rady. The nurses then contact the patients’ foster parents to make sure that they scheduled any necessary follow-ups, such as labs or visits with another provider.

Epic community members can learn more from Rady Children’s XGM presentation slides and audio or read more in Rady’s Clinical Program.