April 2022 Release Notes
During April, we continued our work on security updates to our tech infrastructure. A new release is underway and coming your way in the next few months! We've also published a series of blog posts.
ACP Decisions’ technology infrastructure upgrades and work continue and we always welcome your feedback on how we can better meet your needs and the needs of your patients.
Here's more information on what we've been up to:
Catching Up On Our Most Recent Blog Posts
A Guide to Employing Shared Decision Making in Clinical Practice
(4 minute read)
Shared decision making (SDM) in healthcare is a communication process that involves a patient and provider collaborating to determine the medical treatment that best fits the patient’s values and preferences.
Although there is a preponderance of evidence to support the use of SDM, its adoption into routine medical practice has been slow.
Even when a healthcare organization implements an SDM initiative, it can only be successful if the two-way communication process becomes a standard clinical practice. This article reviews the benefits of SDM, clinical situations that are best suited for SDM, and a technique for putting SDM into practice.
Understanding the Obstacles to Telehealth
(3 minute read)
The COVID-19 pandemic forced clinicians to alter how they deliver healthcare, ushering in a new era of telehealth. The increased adoption of remote medical care revealed its enormous potential to transform healthcare delivery.
Policy and regulatory flexibilities that were granted under the public health emergency declaration eased some of the biggest barriers to telehealth; however, the future of these measures is uncertain. Even with the telehealth waivers in place, vulnerable patient populations have been disproportionately unable to access telehealth when needed most.
Over 125 organizations are advocating for the long-term continuation of legislations that facilitate access to virtual care.
4 Virtual Visit Best Practices for Serious Illness Conversations
(3 minute read)
As COVID-19 infections surged in 2020, the U.S. federal government stepped in with policy waivers to help overcome the biggest obstacles to telehealth, and medical associations released practice guidelines. Within weeks, there was as much as a ten-fold increase in virtual doctor visits.
The increased adoption of telehealth revealed the enormous potential of telehealth to transform healthcare delivery, even beyond the pandemic. Advance care planning (ACP) and serious illness conversations emerged as crucial health services that needed to be prioritized and could be provided virtually.
The Latest Technology Platform Fixes & Enhancement
👷🏼🔨Ongoing Infrastructure Update🔨👷🏼
Since the Fall of 2021, ACP Decisions’ technology has been focused on all-around upgrade beginning with our infrastructure. Now through 2022 is an exciting period of growth to advance the technology in several areas including but not limited to new capabilities, HIPAA readiness, EHR integration, and security. New updates are scheduled to be released starting summer 2022. Your feedback is essential to the upcoming roadmap and release schedule.