Journal of hospital medicine : an official publication of the Society of Hospital Medicine
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Electronic communication between providers occurs daily in clinical practice but has not been well studied. ⋯ Of 25 included studies, all focused on physicians; most were observational (68%). Most (60%) described electronic specialist referral tools. Although overall use has been measured, there were no studies of the effectiveness of intra-EHR messaging. Literature describing the effectiveness of provider-to-provider electronic communications is sparse and narrow in scope. Complex care, such as that envisioned for the Patient Centered Medical Home, necessitates further research.
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Patients with low-risk chest pain are frequently readmitted for evaluation of recurrent chest pain. It is unknown whether stress testing during the first admission for chest pain is a cost-effective means of reducing readmissions. ⋯ Inpatient stress testing reduced subsequent resource utilization in terms of ED visits and resultant readmissions, but the savings were not enough to offset the cost of initial testing.