Technological Resources and Personnel Costs Required to Implement an Automated Alert System for Primary Care Physicians When Patients Transition from Hospitals to Home

Background/Aims With the adoption of electronic medical records (EMR) by medical group practices, there are opportunities to improve the quality of care for patients who are discharged from hospitals and intermediate care facilities. While transitions within vertically-integrated healthcare systems are amenable to EMR-based transition interventions, there is little guidance for medical groups without integrated hospital-EMR access who wish to automate the flow of patient information during critical transitions in care. Our aim was to describe the technological resources, expertise and time needed to develop and implement an automated system providing critical information and alerts to primary care physicians when their patients transition from hospitals or skilled nursing facilities to home.