Why an "Inboxologist" Could Be Coming to Hospitals
14 OCTOBER 2024
Corewell Health, a relatively recent consolidation of Michigan hospitals, was trying to change the way incoming patient/provider communications were handled. Prior to COVID, as reported in Becker's Health IT, that 600,000 patient medical requests were handled annually. This number rose to approximately 3-Million during the COVID crisis.*
Corewell Health West assembled a think tank team from two West Michigan hospitals, one of their tasks was to improve the above problem. They reported in the NEJM Catalyst their findings: " new in-basket triage system involving a registered nurse completing initial triage and an advanced practice provider serving as an “inboxologist.” "
The results have been impressive, according to their Abstract in the NEJM Catalyst: "primary care providers handled 41% fewer in-basket messages than before the pilot and spent an average of 47% less time on the messages they did receive."
Physician/providers spent significantly less time handling communications in-office and after hours as well.
To read the complete NEJM Catalyst abstract, please use this link.
