Main Line Health System, Wynnewood, PA Linking Patients to Community Resources Via a Smartphone App

Joseph A Greco; Chinwe Onyekere; April Lockley; Sharon Iannucci; Jennifer Banas

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PROJECT MANAGEMENT PLAN – A Community Service App to Link Patients With Needed Resources

Vision Statement	Main Line Health System, along with the Department of GME, will reduce disparities in health by affording individuals access to primary care and subspecialty care and linking them with community resources to live a better quality life for our community.
Team Objectives	Our objectives were as follows: Build and define a relationship between the existing Health Student Advocate program and the residents within our sponsoring institution Develop an app for community resources based on the Health Student Advocate’s Wikipedia page of resources that will bring awareness of community resources bedside for residents and patients in the clinical inpatient and ambulatory settings
Success Factors	The most successful part of our work was the integration and collaboration between GME and the administration of Main Line Health System as we partnered to bring this smartphone app into working form. We were inspired by the resources that our organization was willing to put into reviewing the legal contract with the creators of the smartphone app, as well as the $10,000 to become a sponsor of the app along with the Texas A&M School of Public Health.
Barriers	The largest barrier was creating an app that our legal team and our IT team at Main Line Health System would support. We worked to overcome this challenge by teaming with the Texas A&M School of Public Health that had already created a similar app for cancer patients. We collaborated with them to populate resources in our community on their smartphone app.
Lessons Learned	The single most important piece of advice to provide another team embarking on a similar initiative is to include your legal and IT departments early if contracts with outside organizations might be required rather than getting approval when you have a prototype pilot ready. Nowadays, hospitals are particularly conservative when it comes to HIPAA-protected information and having complicated and thorough contracts in place before proceeding.