What You Should Know:
– Blue Shield of California offers COVID-19 Screener and Emergency Response Assistant (COVID-19 SERA) to help handle anticipated surge of COVID-19 patients.
– The COVID-19 SERA is developed by GYANT can be customized for each health system’s emergency response plan, and it is updated in real-time with latest guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and World Health Organization (WHO).
Blue Shield of California is offering a new digital tool to
its network hospitals at no additional cost to help them triage the influx of
patients seeking advice on coronavirus
(COVID-19) or other medical care. This is the latest effort by the
nonprofit health plan to support public health during the ongoing coronavirus
crisis by helping hospitals be more effective and efficient in caring for their
patients.
How COVID-19 SERA Works
The “COVID-19 Screener and Emergency Response
Assistant” (COVID-19 SERA) is a tool that patients can access via
Internet-connected smartphone, tablet or computer on a participating hospital’s
website. COVID-19 SERA can be customized for each health system’s emergency
response plan, and it is updated in real-time with latest guidelines from the
Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and World Health Organization (WHO). The
COVID-19 SERA is developed by GYANT, a San
Francisco-based company that uses artificial
intelligence to provide digital services that help people access
appropriate care.
Patients would access COVID-19 SERA on a hospital’s websites, answer a few
basic questions and based on their reply, they would be directed to the
appropriate medical settings for their health situation. The idea is to point
patients in the most appropriate care setting so hospitals can better manage
inflow of patients.
The COVID-19 SERA service can be implemented on a hospital’s
website within 48 hours. Blue Shield will cover
the costs for its network hospitals to implement, update and be licensed to use
COVID-19 SERA system for three months during the pandemic.
“The tool provides relief to hospitals’ overburdened call centers and
front-desk resources. 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,” said Terry Gilliland, M.D., executive vice president,
Healthcare Quality and Affordability at Blue Shield.
“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.”
