Harahsheh agrees and has embedded his team’s tool within patient EHRs to promote greater adoption of it for better referral practices. He and his team also plan to train inexperienced physicians just starting their careers on how to use the tool, as well as evangelists within outpatient cardiology and pediatric clinics who can catalyze change.

"These types of quality improvement projects require a change to the status quo. In order to be successful, we need members of the care team — including front line clinicians and nurse practitioners — to champion change at the clinic level,” he said. “With their help, we can continue to refine this tool and move toward nationwide implementation.”

In addition to decreasing healthcare spending amounts, Harahsheh says the solution could help save on additional costs not taken into account by him and his team, such as the value of lost productivity and other direct costs to families who shuttle from one appointment to the next.

The solution is currently used by the entire Children's Pediatricians and Associates network of providers who offer pediatric primary care in Washington, D.C., and Maryland.

The team presented the approach as a quality improvement project in late October at the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) National Conference and Exhibition in New Orleans.

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