With 3 New Conditions, More Patients Will Benefit from Specialty Search

Our Specialty Search capability, first launched in November, has been an immediate success. Multiple organizations have reported excellent early results in addressing preventable disease after adopting this new solution.

Specialty Search is important for patients with chronic conditions. They frequently visit out-of-state Centers of Excellence for help. Unfortunately, traditional Record Locator Services may miss the critical treatment data associated with these encounters because they happen far from home. Specialty Search solves this issue by letting providers run a unique, condition-focused search on relevant Centers of Excellence across the country. 

Catch the full overview in our new video below:

Centers of Excellence

Centers of Excellence don’t have an official accrediting body, but they’re generally thought of as specialized sites where patients go to when treating a serious or chronic condition. For example, prominent institutions that specialize in cancer care could be thought of as oncology Centers of Excellence.‍

One recent study defined Centers of Excellence as “specialized programs within healthcare institutions which supply exceptionally high concentrations of expertise and related resources centered on particular medical areas and delivered in a comprehensive, interdisciplinary fashion”.

Patients will travel great distances to these facilities. Hopefully, Specialty Search means that patients won’t need to lug their records from a Center of Excellence to their primary care provider back home.

Supporting Three New Conditions

One great thing about the Specialty Search model is that our team can extend it to new conditions, which have their own Centers of Excellence, with relative ease. Our ultimate goal is to make this siloed patient data actionable. If a doctor needs data about a condition with a number of nationally-recognized specialists, then Specialty Search can have a huge impact. 

With that in mind, better outcomes are on their way for three new conditions! We’re excited to announce Specialty Search functionality for:

1. Nephrology (kidney care)

Managing kidney disease involves tracking historic and recent biomarkers. That’s why dialysis providers are some of the heaviest users of Health Information Networks, with very clear use cases for exchanging patient data. Now, relevant clinicians can continue or create a patient’s treatment plan with the help of Specialty Search for nephrology.

2. Pulmonology (respiratory medicine)

Personalized care makes a particularly large difference for the care of asthma and respiratory diseases. Some of this treatment can be conducted via telehealth, as remote patient monitoring tools are rapidly advancing in this space. Respiratory therapists and affected populations will benefit from Specialty Search capabilities, thanks to long-term management that prevents respiratory distress and inpatient admissions before they start.

3. Gastroenterology (digestive health)

Gastrointestinal health, including inflammatory bowel disease, is a lifelong concern for many. This virtually guarantees that multi-site care teams are a part of the experience for any patient dealing with GI illnesses. 

Gastroenterology care providers no longer have to start from scratch with a new patient thanks to Specialty Search. They can get up to speed with rich, detailed case histories from specialists across the country. This data helps them immediately address quality of life issues, reduce flare-ups, and move on to better disease management. Precision care matters in this field, which would benefit from continued innovation.

All of these specialties are also conducting clinical research. Like our Specialty Search oncology beta customer, xCures (see the case study), the additional data they find may help relevant providers enroll patients in studies which directly improves their lives and impact the lives of many others.

We’re incredibly proud of Specialty Search, and its reception so far. This is an early example of what Particle is doing to help digital health companies make better use of existing data. We can’t wait to help more specialty care innovators come online!