In Greater Chicago, Access Community Health Network adopts Wolters Kluwer’s UpToDate to reduce disparities in healthcare quality

“ACCESS providers needed an educational tool that would provide timely information and help them save time. Integrated into our EHR, UpToDate is an extremely efficient tool that allows our providers to quickly and easily locate the evidence-based answers to most questions that arise during the work day,” says Daneen Woodard, MD, ACCESS Regional Medical Director.

Founded in the early 1990s, Access Community Health Network is the Chicago area's largest provider of community-based healthcare. ACCESS is a network of Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC) focused on improving the health and wellness of its patients located throughout Chicago, and suburban Cook and DuPage counties.

As ACCESS doctors and clinicians increasingly adopt devices like the iPad®, iPhone® and other tablets and smartphones as clinical tools, they can now find answers to clinical questions, anytime, anywhere. UpToDate Anywhere's mobile access is ideal for the organization's geographic footprint, which spans 36 health centers.

As a community-focused organization, a key element of the ACCESS mission is implemented by its patient-centered medical home model. ACCESS works to connect patients with the health resources they need by tapping into a comprehensive continuum of care, both within its locations and through its network of collaborations and partnerships. By using UpToDate as an evidence-based clinical decision support tool throughout the network, ACCESS is working toward standardizing the quality of care it provides, beyond local sites, to a broader population level.

Strategic healthcare technology initiatives play a central role in addressing disparities in the quality of care patients receive. Through its investment in technology to further improve patient care and engagement, ACCESS has also been recognized by HIMSS as a Stage 6 provider for its broad adoption of Epic.

By embedding UpToDate in the EHR, ACCESS makes it easier for clinicians to find answers to clinical questions without ever leaving its clinical workflow. The integration improves clinician satisfaction and promotes increased usage of the EHR.

With UpToDate Anywhere, ACCESS is also able to support clinicians' continuing medical education (CME) efforts. Whenever providers research clinical questions through UpToDate, they are simultaneously earning CME credits. UpToDate is available via iOS and Android™ mobile apps, as well as any internet browser.

"UpToDate makes it really simple and fast to find the answer to almost anything, whether it is current guidelines, help evaluating differential diagnoses, or something as simple as medication doses," Dr. Woodard added. "The calculators and drug interaction tools have been extremely helpful, and the CME hours really add up quickly."

Peter Bonis, MD, Chief Medical Officer, Clinical Effectiveness at Wolters Kluwer added, "With UpToDate Anywhere, clinicians in large FQHCs like ACCESS now have anytime, anywhere access to the clinical answers they need while using their EHR, during rounds, in the hall between seeing patient, or at home catching up on charts. Together with ACCESS, we can make a substantial impact on the quality and effectiveness of healthcare in greater Chicago, one clinical decision at a time."