Medical Net Systems: Patient Centered Medical Home, Practice Management Software, EMR Software, Electronic Medical Records

The Guideline Wizard is the point of care tool the busy physician needs to meet the challenge of today’s pay for performance environment.  

The Guideline Wizard is fully integrated with EncounterSuite.
There is no redundant data entry.

The Guideline Wizard is not a superimposed module requiring redundant patient data and diagnosis entry. It is fully integrated with the Patient Encounter Interface.  When a patient is added to the system, the appropriate wellness guidelines (see below) are created based on the patient's demographics.  When you diagnose a patient with a medical problem in the Patient Encounter Interface, the Guideline Wizard immediately determines the appropriate disease management guidelines and whether they have been met.  Thus you can meet all the guidelines for the disease you just diagnosed, improving medical care and efficiency.

How the Guideline Wizard Works

The Guideline Wizard informs you of the status of the tests, procedures, and medications that patient needs, while you're seeing the patient.   Here's how: The EncounterSuite dashboard in the Patient Encounter Interface displays the number of unmet wellness and disease management guidelines for that patient.   Clicking on the Guideline icon opens a list of the guidelines and the status of the order that would complete each guideline for that patient.  Ordering the recommended tests and procedures is done with a simple click.  
 

Creating an Order from a Guideline.
1. An order to complete the Guideline is created by clicking the Order Now link.
2. Once the order has been created, a notation (in red) is made.  The guideline remains unmet since the order has not been completed. Orders are created the same way in the Disease Management Guidelines.

Fairer, More Sophisticated Audits 

Sometimes a guideline should not be applied to a given patient.  With some systems this can be hard to document.  With the Guideline Wizard, you can easily explain your thought process and can even set a duration that the guideline should not be applied to the patient.  This feature enables a fairer audit.  

Inactivating a guideline and explaining why
a guideline should not be applied to a particular patient.
1. The Not Applicable link is clicked, opening the Not Applicable window.
2. The reasoning why the guideline should not be applied to the patient is documented and submitted.
3. The guideline is shown as "met" and the reason why the guideline is not applicable to this patient is displayed.

 

Because the status appears in the guideline, patient non-compliance is documented i.e., an order was made but the patient did not get the test done.

Guideline Types

1. Wellness guidelines.  These guidelines are the recommended testing, vaccinations, and procedures that everyone, based on their demographics, should have done.  These include age-related mammograms and colonoscopies.
2. Disease management guidelines.  These guidelines are the recommended testing, vaccinations, and procedures that patients with specific medical conditions should have done. These include hemoglobin A1c and annual eye examinations for diabetes.  EncounterSuite's diagnostic equivalence insures that all the patients with these medical conditions are identified.
3. Disease management medication guidelines.  These guidelines ensure that the patient, with certain medical conditions, is prescribed the recommended medications.  These include ACE/ARB for diabetes with nephropathy, heart failure, or hypertension.

These guidelines are based on the Michigan Quality Improvement Consortium (MQIC), CDC and HEDIS recommendations. 

Guidelines can be edited, inactivated, and created.