The World Health Organization (WHO) declared monkeypox a Public Health Emergency of International Concern on July 23, 2022. As of September 20, more than 62,000 cases have been reported worldwide, including more than 23,000 confirmed cases in the United States. Healthcare organizations preparing for and managing local outbreaks have many elements to consider, including how health IT factors into their responses.

Altera Digital Health client BronxCare is one healthcare organization working quickly to support patients and providers through this rising public health challenge. The organization, serving the South and Central Bronx, is an 859-bed not-for-profit hospital. BronxCare is one of the largest providers of outpatient services in New York City, and its emergency department is one of New York’s busiest.

Dr. Christina Koizumi is playing a significant role in BronxCare’s response to monkeypox from both clinical and IT perspectives. Dr. Koizumi is the organization’s Chief Medical Information Officer as well as an Attending Physician in the Department of Medicine with a clinical focus in HIV/AIDS and infectious diseases.

A multidisciplinary team of clinicians at BronxCare began planning for a potential outbreak in early July. Within a matter of days, the hospital was treating its first monkeypox patients. Dr. Koizumi and the team drew on lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic to quickly equip providers and other hospital staff members with capabilities needed to treat and contain an infectious disease.

If a patient meets certain criteria suggesting an infection, providers can now place an order in Sunrise™ so a header indicating a suspected monkeypox case appears in the electronic health record (EHR). And now that monkeypox diagnostic tests are available, members of the clinical team can order these directly through Sunrise. When positive results are received, the alert headers are automatically updated from “suspected” to “confirmed.”

Dr. Koizumi also considered how the hospital would generate reports for the state department of health, coding and billing challenges that could arise from suspected cases before monkeypox diagnoses are confirmed and documented, and more.

To learn more about how BronxCare has leveraged Sunrise’s flexibility in its monkeypox response, register here for the webinar with Dr. Koizumi on Thursday, October 6, 2022 at 12:00 p.m. ET.