Free Tools for Secure Clinical Communication

Dear Colleague,

Working as a hospitalist at two hospitals outside of Boston, I recognized like many other physicians that medical errors where occurring due to the lack of clinical communication amongst providers as patients transitioned from one care setting to another.

Traditional methods of faxing or mailing clinical documents were not fostering communication between physicians. Similarly, EMR integrations did not encourage the meaningful dialog needed after a clinical encounter. There had to be a better way for physicians to communicate about patient care. It had to be HIPPA compliant, allow for back and forth dialog, and be simple.

With the help of some grant money I started a secure physician network called Concentrica in the hopes of improving care.

Concentrica has the following features
• HIPAA-compliant free physician network
• National Directory of physicians
• Similar to email: send, reply, forward, attach documents
• Messages are faxed if not accessed electronically by recipient
• Group discussions can bring together members of the care team from multiple locations
• Web based with no software to download or install
• iPhone App
• Working with Massachusetts Medical Society

Our initial results have been very promising. Concentrica has delivered over 60,000 clinical messages to date in Massachusetts and has thousands of physicians enrolled. It is currently being offered free to physicians and healthcare groups as part of a trial.

We are convinced that better communication is at the heart of better patient care, and hence at the heart of reducing costs.

Please email or call me with any questions or suggestions about who would be best to talk to about including our tools into a Quality Improvement or Cost Reduction program.

Thanks,

Arthur Williams, MD
awilliams@concentrica.com

Michael Clarage, PhD
mclarage@concentrica.com

www.concentrica.com
781-890-1300.