What You Need To Know
As part of our commitment to keeping the entire department informed, here is a brief update on the key initiatives and decisions from our June Pulmonology Specialty Collaborative meeting.
The goal of this collaborative is to bring physicians together to solve clinical challenges and standardize Pulmonology care across the network. We partner closely with other specialty collaboratives, diagnostic councils, and key clinical groups across the network to ensure our initiatives are aligned and ultimately improve patient care.
Key Updates from Our June Meeting
1. Evaluating New AI Technology for Interstitial Lung Disease (ILD) The collaborative heard a detailed presentation on an FDA-cleared, AI-powered quantitative CT imaging tool designed to assist in the assessment and management of ILD. The group discussed the technology's potential to provide objective data to facilitate patient communication, support clinical decisions on therapy changes, and streamline transplant referrals. This evaluation is being done in close collaboration with the Diagnostic Imaging Council, led by Michael Horton, VP of Radiology. Key takeaways of the discussion include:
- Objective Data: The tool quantifies biomarkers like fibrosis and ground-glass opacity, providing metrics that are more sensitive to disease progression than standard visual assessment.
- Decision Support: It functions as a decision support tool, helping clinicians track disease progression and make more informed treatment decisions.
- Next Step: Following the discussion, the collaborative recommended proceeding with a formal evaluation of the technology within the HMH network.
2. Optimizing the Network COPD Care Pathway The group reviewed and approved several key optimizations to the live COPD care pathway and its associated network order sets to improve and standardize care. The most significant updates include:
- Doxycycline Order: The "hard stop" on doxycycline orders was removed to allow for clinical discretion, particularly for patients who may have already received antibiotics prior to admission.
- Steroid Orders: The single, fixed-dose prednisone order will be replaced with a more flexible set of initial IV and PO steroid options, empowering clinicians to tailor therapy to patient acuity without an automatic conversion protocol.
- Oxygen Therapy: The pathway will be updated to integrate directly with the new, unified "Oxygen Therapy" order set. This ensures clinicians have access to the full, standardized range of oxygen delivery methods (high, medium, and regular flow).
Status Updates on Other Key Initiatives
- NIV Policy and OPA Updates: The collaborative has finalized its recommendations for the updated NIV policy. The draft is now undergoing a multidisciplinary review by key stakeholders (including Clinical Policy, IT, and Critical Care) to assess the proposed workflow and the technical build of its associated Our Practice Advisory (OPA) alerts. Following this review, it will proceed through the formal network approval process.
- Thoracentesis Order Set: A draft of the new, standardized thoracentesis order set is being developed and refined by the Collaborative. The draft will either be circulated for offline review or added to the July meeting agenda.
Who to Contact
Do you have a clinical challenge, a workflow issue, or an idea for standardization? Please reach out to any of the Collaborative Chairs or the Network Patient Safety & Quality (PS&Q) Team: Jillian Stevens (jillian.stevens@hmhn.org) and Diveena Davis (diveena.davis@hmhn.org).
For any questions, please feel free to contact the Pulmonology Collaborative Chairs:
- Dr. Keith Brenner (keith.brenner@hmhn.org)
- Dr. Lisa Casale (lisa.casale@hmhn.org)
- Dr. Eric Costanzo (eric.costanzo@hmhn.org)
Thank you for your continued partnership in improving patient care.