The 2017 Virginia General Assembly established the Emergency Department Care Coordination (EDCC) Program (§ 32.1-372) within the Virginia Department of Health (VDH) to provide a technology solution that connects all hospitals operating emergency departments (EDs) in the Commonwealth of Virginia. This was done to facilitate real-time communication and collaboration among physicians, other healthcare providers and clinical and care management personnel for patients receiving services in hospital EDs to improve the quality of patient care services. The budget language in support of the legislation required VDH and the Department of Medical Assistance Services (DMAS) to obtain Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act general funds for receipt of matching funds. In fiscal year 2018, VDH entered into a $3.9 million contract with ConnectVirginia HIE (CVHIE) to fulfill the legislative requirements of the EDCC Program. Collective Medical (CM) was later chosen as the EDCC Program technology vendor.

Since implementing the Collective Platform(*1) technology (formerly called PreManage) in Virginia, emergency departments and health plans throughout the Commonwealth can now share and receive real-time patient visit information directly in their electronic health record (EHR) or existing workflows. Real-time, actionable notifications, triggered by analytics, notify providers when a patient presents to the ED with complex needs. As of October 2019, most Virginia EDs receive standard alert criteria, and about 20% of patients on average trigger an EDie(*2) alert. (Figure 1 - see page 3 of the report) The number of patients who trigger an EDie alert, or notification, has increased over time as the use of the program has grown and two new triggers were added to combat the opioid crisis.

The patients who trigger an alert are considered most at risk for an avoidable encounter in the future and often have chronic conditions that have gone untreated and unmanaged. The Collective Platform provides notifications and a shared platform through which multiple providers can engage with that patient and collaborate on their care. The ultimate goal of the EDCC Program is to support the providers caring for these patients, to ensure that they receive the right care, with the right provider, at the right time and at the right price.

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(*1) Platform includes a shared portal website for collaboration and optional notification integration with a focus on the ED for providers across the care continuum. https://collectivemedical.com/purpose/
(*2) Emergency Department information exchange – the technology in the ED/hospital (includes EDie alerts and Collective EDie portal). https://collectivemedical.com/hospitals-health-systems/