Opinion: Real-Time Hospital Notifications Could Transform California Health Care

Among the thousands of patients Dr. Donald Rebhun has seen at his primary care practice in the San Fernando Valley, stories that stand out in his memory include cases where he was able to make a timely impact on patients because of a simple electronic alert sent by the hospital, letting him know his patient had been treated.

“I was alerted that my patient was in the hospital and received empiric antibiotics for an underlying infection,” Rebhun said. “The initial cultures came back negative, and the patient had an early release. Later, the cultures turned positive. Because I knew what was happening, I was able to follow up, and we probably kept that patient from becoming extremely ill and circumvented the need to go back into the hospital and be admitted for much stronger types of therapy and consequences.”

Read the full article with Erica Galvez, Chief Executive Officer, Manifest MedEx, and William Barcellona, Executive VP of Government Affairs, America’s Physician Groups published in California Health Report.