We propose a notification system via the APeX staff message/ADT interface to give Resident Physician PCPs information regarding their patients' appointments with covering providers in DGIM. 

Background of the Proposal

• The General Medicine Clinic at Mount Zion consists of 10 internal medicine (IM) resident and attending teams IM residents have, on average, 2-4 half day clinic sessions per month, meaning most patients assigned a resident PCP see other providers for acute appointments and, sometimes, follow up appointments.
• APeX does not currently notify the IM resident PCP if one of her/his patients is scheduled with a covering DGIM provider.

 Proposed Change

• Similar to the way PCPs receive Hospitalization notices from the ADT system, we propose alerting resident physician PCPs via an inbasket message when their patients are scheduled for a DGIM appointment.
• This message would include metadata from the scheduling event including chief complaint and the time/date of upcoming appointment.
• The IM resident PCP would be able to then message the covering MD about any background information or outstanding issues.

Aim

• These acute appointment notifications will improve continuity of care between PCP and covering providers, reduce medical errors, and increase patient satisfaction

Potential Measurements to Test Effectiveness

• Resident physicians within DGIM could be surveyed for the following responses:

1. Awareness of the new functionality
2. PCPs’ utilization of option to message covering providers
3. If PCPs messaged a covering provider, the type of information provided in message
4. Likert scale measuring effectiveness of provider to provider communication and the perceived impact on continuity of care