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SF Health Network highlights telehealth gains and interpreter services as EPIC integration looms
Summary
Roland Pickens and network staff reported faster specialty access from telehealth projects (retina cameras and van, teledermatology, jail optometry), a telehealth pilot that screened 25 inmates on-site, and interpreter services handling a quarter-million interpretation events with 36.7% of patients needing language assistance; presenters emphasized EPIC workflow integration as a major near-term challenge.
The San Francisco Health Network presented a semi-annual update that highlighted telehealth expansions, interpreter-service improvements and a planned integration with the EPIC electronic health record.
Roland Pickens, director of the Health Network, outlined three strategic initiatives for the network (EHR/EPIC readiness, workforce development through lean, and value-based payments) and introduced a spotlight on telehealth and language services. Bruce, director of telehealth and interpreter services, described teloretinopathy work using retinal cameras and a mobile van that reduced wait times; he said the network now targets a diabetic retinal screening rate of about 65 percent, up from roughly 20—-30 percent when the program began. He reported current third-next-available wait times of three days for ophthalmology and one day for optometry at scale.
Teledermatology was scaled across clinics to triage cases by photograph, producing third-next-available dermatology appointments of roughly five days (three to five days depending on clinic), compared with months before the program. A jail-health van optometry pilot began two months ago and screened 25 inmates on-site, avoiding hospital transfers for routine vision needs.
Interpreter services, Bruce said, conducted over a quarter-million interpretation events in the prior year and the system logged that about 36.7 percent of patients require some level of language assistance. The average time from request to connection with an interpreter is approximately two minutes for the most common languages; rare-language requests can take longer. The service recently instituted stronger language testing for bilingual staff and added lead interpreters to expand day-to-day capacity.
Network staff emphasized that maintaining telehealth gains during transition to EPIC is a priority. Presenters said the main challenges are integrating image workflows (so retinal images move into picture-archiving systems and then into Epic) and preserving the efficiencies achieved in standalone systems.
Commissioners asked about the digital divide, accessibility for older patients and hearing-impaired users, and reimbursement changes; presenters said those equity concerns are active issues and that Medicaid waiver programs and eConsult initiatives provide partial financial support while workflow integration remains the core near-term focus.
