"Auto faxing" makes communicating patient information more efficient

An APRN with the Pediatric Respiratory Medicine clinic has implemented a new practice that uses an Epic function to make communicating patient information to other providers faster.

Tina Tolomeo, APRN, worked with Allen Hsiao, MD, chief medical information officer at Yale New Haven Health System and Yale School of Medicine, to implement "auto faxing," which is now being used throughout Pediatrics and other areas at Yale New Haven Hospital.

After a clinic visit with a new or returning patient, Pediatric Respiratory Medicine staff write a letter to the referring provider describing what occurred during the visit and recommendations for care. Previously, the process of creating and sending the letter required a minimum of six steps in Epic.

Auto faxing reduces the number of steps, eliminating the need to leave the Visit Navigator screen to create and send letters. Once a note is written and edited in the Progress Notes tab within the Office Encounter, it is ready to go as soon as the encounter is closed.

With auto faxing, the only reason to leave Visit Navigator and use the Communications tab is to remove recipients from a pre-saved list or add recipients not listed as part of the patient's care team.

For more information on auto faxing, contact Tina Tolomeo.