A Unique Way to Axe the Fax Through Using Business Automation Workflow to Expedite eReferral Adoption, Bridging...

Area of Science:

• Healthcare technology
• Health informatics
• Clinical workflow optimization

Background:

• Physician adoption of electronic referral (eReferral) is hindered by the necessity for both parties to use the same platform.
• The majority of physicians in Ontario continue to use fax for patient information exchange.
• Bridging the gap between eReferral senders and fax receivers is crucial for improving eReferral adoption.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore the feasibility of using a business automation workflow (BAW) platform to connect eReferral and fax systems.
• To enable eReferral senders to transmit referrals to fax receivers, enhancing the clinician experience.
• To facilitate a smoother transition to eReferral by accommodating existing fax infrastructure.

Main Methods:

• Developed and evaluated an eReferral via eFax solution on a BAW platform.
• Enabled selected fax receivers on the eReferral platform as eFax receivers.
• Implemented retry and reminder logic to improve delivery success and user experience, collecting feedback via surveys and interviews.

Main Results:

• Successfully processed 4504 eFaxes for 4132 unique patients between May 2022 and December 2023.
• Reduced fax failure rates from 37.7% to 9.9% after implementing retry logic, achieving a 98.7% successful delivery rate.
• Clinician feedback indicated a positive impact, maintaining familiar workflows for senders and allowing gradual adoption by fax receivers.

Conclusions:

• The BAW platform effectively bridges the gap between fax and eReferral systems, minimizing disruption for clinicians.
• This technology expedites eReferral adoption by reducing the dependency on receiving clinics to adopt new platforms.
• The solution enhances the overall experience for both healthcare providers and patients by improving referral efficiency.