Dr Vitaliy Kubatskyy thought he had close to 2,000 patients when he took over a full-sized practice in the Cowichan Valley seven years ago.
To ensure he had the most up-to-date numbers on his patient panel, he enlisted the help of a coach from the FPSC’s Practice Support Program (PSP). PSP coaches across the province offer services to help family physicians more effectively manage their patient panel and how they use different health technologies in practice.
After working with PSP, he was surprised to realize his patient panel only numbered 1,100.
This meant Dr Kubatskyy was able to take on more patients, while the PSP coach also supported him in figuring out how to better manage those patients to provide more comprehensive care.
“It was my second year of practice, so it was good to know how many patients I could manage efficiently. I wanted to make sure I was not underserving my patients,” says Dr Kubatskyy who moved to Manhas Health in Coquitlam in 2021.
Through panel management — using Electronic Medical Record (EMR) data to identify and respond to patients’ chronic and preventative care needs — family physicians can explore ways of providing more comprehensive care, consider how they might expand their care team, and keep their data in the Provincial Attachment System up to date.
Panel management helps physicians keep their data current, so they are aware of who is in their practice, their medical conditions and how to reach them for follow-up on lab results or other critically important conditions.
Dr Kubatskyy says it has also helped him to keep tabs on many patients who receive vaccinations at clinics or pharmacies without informing their family physician’s offices.
As part of the panel management process, he decided to review pneumonia immunization as a standard of care for his patients in the 65+ age group. He found most had been immunized for flu, but only a small number had records of their pneumococcal vaccination status.
With help from a PSP coach, Dr Kubatskyy set up an EMR trigger to inform him of patients whose records lacked pneumococcal-related information and document whether the vaccine was given or declined by the patient. The number of pneumococcal vaccine records more than doubled within two months as data was entered more consistently and accurately into the EMR.
“I wanted to expand care beyond the immediate problems presented by the patient,” he says.
Dr Kubatskyy also works with a registered nurse who follows up with patients about their pneumococcal vaccination status when she sees them for annual flu shots. Dr Kubatskyy continues to further his patient panel immunization registry and spread the workflow process to other vaccinations, including tetanus boosters.
“It’s important to tailor this [panel management] process to your practice needs to keep you motivated. I’ve saved time with my overall enhancement of my EMR skills and usage, improved care of my patients, and this proved to be business efficient.”
The Practice Support Program is funded by the Family Practice Service Committee (FPSC), which works on behalf of doctors to strengthen full-service family practice and patient care in BC. FPSC is one of four joint collaborative committees that represent a partnership of the government of BC and Doctors of BC.
For more information, visit the PSP webpage. For support with your practice needs, submit a service request here.