Philadelphia-based Temple Health is using its Epic EHR system to electronically send medical records to the Social Security Administration, eliminating paper-based steps and expediting Social Security Disability Insurance applications.
Applying for Social Security Disability Insurance requires submitting medical records to the SSA to document a qualifying disability, a step many applicants still complete by mail or fax. These paper-based methods can delay decisions, and relying on applicants to gather and select which records to send increases the risk of missing key information.
The SSA has said electronic medical records can improve the disability determination process, reduce costs and accelerate decisions. In a March 27 SSA blog post, the agency said health IT “facilitates the exchange of up-to-date information directly from a person’s sources of care, potentially reducing the need for costly SSA consultative examinations,” and that it identifies allowances 50% faster when processing applications with health IT records.
Temple Health began the project in August, working with SSA and Epic to set up the integration, which went live on Jan. 20. Through the partnership, patients can authorize direct access to their medical records via Epic.
“Once the patient consents to the SSA electronically retrieving their documents, SSA can do that over our interoperability network. Patients no longer have to go through the manual process,” said Katie Deschaine, vice president of clinical applications at Temple Health. “SSA is able to get the clinical documentation instantaneously — without waiting for faxes, without waiting for someone to mail something, and without someone needing to pick up an envelope and mail it out.”
As of Jan. 29, Temple Health had received more than 200 document requests, with an 87.2% success rate.
“Anything over 80% from SSA is very good, especially being only a little over a week post go-live,” Patrick Davin, program director of applications at Temple Health, told Becker’s. “We’re continuing to refine the integration, but early results are showing it’s been successful.”
Ms. Deschaine said Temple Health is tracking the long-term operational impact of automating the workflow, including the potential to reduce manual touch points for staff and providers.
“Long-term, we’ll look at how this reduces the burden on our staff and providers,” she said. “Every one of those inquiries can take a day, two days, or a week for someone to review and gather information. By automating it, we take that manual touch out.”
The initiative is part of a broader interoperability push at Temple Health, with leaders pointing to additional connectivity goals ahead.
“SSA is really just the start,” Mr. Davin said. “We’re also looking to do TEFCA this year, and looking at other options with some of our payers and partners.”
Ms. Deschaine said the health system is approaching these interoperability projects through a patient-centered lens.
“There are a lot of friction points in healthcare. We’re looking at them holistically — how do we remove them? How do we make it easier for our patients? How do we take that burden off our providers?” she said.
Temple Health is one of several health systems, including Greensboro, N.C.-based Cone Health, now using Epic to electronically share records with the SSA.
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