To navigate the current COVID-19 landscape, healthcare leaders must shift their mindset to match this new understanding. In Advisory Board’s webinar, Today’s COVID-19 landscape: Protecting patients and mitigating broader systemic impacts, experts emphasized an ongoing need for guideline-informed provider workflows, timely testing and treatment, and proactive care. Here are four key takeaways from that discussion:

Takeaway 1: Reframe clinical mindsets to be proactive and test for COVID-19 in a timely fashion

COVID-19 care requires a proactive approach that focuses on education and timely, accessible treatment. During the COVID-19 public health emergency, health systems implemented reactive measures like social distancing, quarantines, and therapies geared toward preventing hospitalization and death. Now, health systems must shift toward proactive care for high-risk patients to mitigate the risk of chronic diseases that can develop or worsen due to severe COVID-19. That means prioritizing timely access to guideline-recommended testing and treatment.

COVID-19 symptoms — such as cough, runny nose, and sore throat¹⁰ — can overlap with those of other respiratory viruses, so it can be challenging to diagnose without testing. Unfortunately, some health systems prioritize testing when COVID-19 patients are already very sick. Patients with mild to moderate symptoms are often sent home undiagnosed with a recommendation to rest and use over-the-counter medications.

Current COVID-19 treatments are effective when given early in the course of disease.¹¹ It’s important to test and treat COVID-19 based on patient risk factors, rather than immediate symptoms alone, to avoid delays or gaps in care.

Proactive, standardized approaches to identifying high-risk patients and providing timely testing and treatment can prevent patients with mild or moderate COVID-19 from progressing to severe illness. Preventing severe illness can help reduce the risk of developing Long COVID or exacerbating chronic conditions.

Takeaway 2: Standardize workflows to reflect the need for timely COVID-19 testing and treatment for high-risk patients

Since providers want to improve patient outcomes and practice evidence-based medicine, clinical decision support (CDS) tools in the EHR can give providers essential information — such as testing and treatment protocols, differential diagnoses, and recommendations based on clinical guidelines — at the point of care. For example, when a patient has mild to moderate symptoms, the EHR might prompt the provider to test for COVID-19. Or, when a patient has one or more risk factors for severe COVID-19, the provider would be prompted to test for and treat COVID-19 quickly.

CDS tools help providers identify and consider patient risk factors and symptoms to determine the best care management. These tools may flag less-obvious risk factors for severe COVID-19, including underlying chronic conditions, and inform physicians of the latest research to guide patient care.

More targeted enhancements to CDS tools that streamline patient care could have a meaningful impact. For example, Dr. Bookman shared that CDS tools could recommend that providers give patients a prescription for an oral antiviral to fill only if their COVID-19 test comes back positive. This may improve patient flow by minimizing patients’ time spent waiting for test results in the ED or urgent care.

Integrating COVID-19-related CDS tools into provider workflows may support clinicians in delivering more efficient, guideline-driven care for patients at high risk for severe illness.

Takeaway 3: Educate patients about how COVID-19 testing and treatment has changed

Fragmented or outdated information about COVID-19 is often a major challenge for patients. Updated, clear messaging for high-risk populations about the continued importance of vaccination, testing, and treatment can help patients navigate the health system when sick.

Many health systems already run effective campaigns year-round. But there are still opportunities to better integrate essential COVID-19 information into existing community outreach and patient education efforts, or to adapt these efforts for more targeted outreach.

By integrating current COVID-19 guidance into broader patient education and outreach efforts, health systems can empower high-risk patients to make informed decisions and better navigate care when they need it most.

Takeaway 4: Prevent severe COVID-19 to protect quality outcomes

Severe COVID-19 may impact several condition-specific quality measures,¹² such as comprehensive diabetes care and poor hemoglobin A1C control,^13,14 chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) or asthma admission rates among older adults,¹⁵ heart failure admission rates,⁶ and depression remission rates at 12 months.⁷ Preventing high-risk patients from developing severe COVID-19 could have a significant impact on those health system quality measures. For instance, when severe COVID-19 results in new or worsening diabetes or COPD, patients who wouldn’t otherwise have needed care may visit EDs or need to be admitted, increasing admission or readmission rates.

By prioritizing timely testing and treatment for patients who are at high risk for severe COVID-19, health systems can reduce avoidable admissions and improve overall quality outcomes across multiple chronic conditions.

Watch the recording from the webinar, "Today’s COVID-19 landscape: Protecting patients and mitigating broader systemic impacts", sponsored by Pfizer. Press the play button below or open the recording in a new browser window.

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This article is sponsored by Pfizer, an Advisory Board member organization. Representatives of Pfizer helped select the topics and issues addressed. Advisory Board experts wrote the article, maintained final editorial approval, and conducted the underlying research independently and objectively. Advisory Board does not endorse any company, organization, product or brand mentioned herein.

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