Overview

The Emergency Department Information Exchange (EDIE) is an internet-delivered application. It enables authorized emergency room personnel to share and access patient-specific information. This information is vital for continuity of care to patients who frequent multiple facilities. Using EDIE, medical facilities can make more informed decisions about a patients treatment options.

Mobility

As a patient travels from facility to facility, each visit location records the visit and any pertinent care information. When a suspect patient enters an EDIE participating facility, a search is performed to determine if the patient already has visited other facilities and what treatments were given.

Socio-Medical Model

EDIE is architected around a proprietary and patented socio-medical model that has been pioneered and extensively tested in several northwestern hospital emergency rooms. The model addresses a societal problem universally faced by disenfranchised patients. It uses a basic medical model and integrates a social work model of the person in their environment, thus addressing the whole person. The program does not diminish the medical model, but enhances it by augmenting care in the emergency department and providing a powerful too in the treatment of a treatment-reluctant population.

The results of implementing this model on an internal level have been exceptional. These include:

• A substantial reduction in attempts to access narcotics
• An increase in self-pay reimbursement rates within the managed population
• A reduction in recidivism rates within the managed population