COVID-19: Blue Shield of California rolls out triad tool to manage patient influx

Blue Shield of California has rolled out a new digital triage tool to assist network hospitals manage inflow of patients seeking advice on coronavirus (COVID-19).

The new tool called Covid-19 Screener and Emergency Response Assistant (COVID-19 SERA) will help patients guide to the appropriate medical settings based on their health situation.

Patients can access COVID-19 SERA through their smartphones, laptops or tablets on a participating hospital’s website.

The tool will categorise patients based on their replies to a basic questionnaire. Accordingly, it will enable the hospitals to reduce burden at frontend and expedite treatment processes.

Developed by GYANT, the COVID-19 SERA service can be implemented on a hospital’s website in 48 hours.

Blue Shield will bear all the implementation costs for three months during the pandemic period.

Blue Shield Healthcare Quality and Affordability executive vice-president Terry Gilliland said: “The tool provides relief to hospitals’ overburdened call centres and front-desk resources. Sorry, there are no polls available at the moment.

“It can direct low-acuity cases to the appropriate medical settings and provide relevant information to patients affected by COVID-19 so that they can quickly receive medical care and help curb community transmission.

“These are trying times for everyone and we believe this system can make a difference for hospitals as they do their best to provide medical care for patients.”

Blue Shield of California is a not-for-profit organisation and member of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association with over 4 million members.