SSM Health Care—St. Louis Offers New Technology To Keep Families Connected

ST. LOUIS - May 13, 2014 - PRLog -- St. Louis, MO (May 13, 2014) — Beginning this month, all SSM Health Care hospitals in St. Louis will offer text message updates to families of patients who are having a surgical procedure. The service, called MyCare Text, provides hourly updates while a loved one is in surgery. Families can enroll for this new service during check-in.

MyCare Text is linked to Epic (SSM's electronic health record system) and automatically sends surgery status updates to a patient’s loved ones. The text messages are in addition to the traditional ways SSM hospitals currently provide updates to families. SSM is the first health care system in the Midwest to offer this service to patients and their families.

“Our son was having a procedure and we decided to receive the new MyCare Text updates,” said Kisha Barnes, one of the first MyCare Text users. “The updates were sent sooner than we ever expected and we were kept in the know the entire time. It really took all the guess work and worry out of the equation. It was a great peace of mind, knowing what was occurring with our son.”

When families enroll in the service, they receive automatic updates hourly with messages identifying steps in the surgery process: patient is ready for surgery, the surgery is in progress, patient is recovering from anesthesia, transferred to a patient room, or preparing to go home.

“Our goal is to improve the patient experience,” said Mindy Manley, executive director of surgical services at SSM St. Joseph Health Center. “We really want to take that to the next level and through MyCare Text we can provide  reassurance with timely updates to each patient’s family.”

MyCare Text launched at SSM Cardinal Glennon Children's Medical Center on April 14 and at SSM DePaul Health Center and SSM St. Clare Health Center on May 5. SSM St. Joseph Health Center and SSM St. Mary’s Health Center began offering the service on May 12 and SSM St. Joseph Hospital West will offer the service on May 19.

About SSM Health Care – St. Louis
SSM Health Care – St. Louis’ mission statement — “Through our exceptional health care services, we reveal the healing presence of God” — is embodied by nearly 11,000 employees and more than 2,500 staff physicians. The health care network offers comprehensive health care services, but specializes in heart, cancer, neurosciences, orthopedics, pediatrics, weight-loss, sleep, imaging, behavioral health and fetal surgery. A winner of the Missouri Quality Award and multiple Best Places to Work awards, SSM Health Care – St. Louis includes seven hospitals: Cardinal Glennon Children’s Medical Center, DePaul Health Center, St. Clare Health Center, St. Joseph Health Center, St. Joseph Health Center – Wentzville, St. Joseph Hospital West and St. Mary’s Health Center, along with St. Joseph Medical Park, a Managed Care Organization, SSM Medical Group and four Urgent Care centers. Go to www.ssmhealth.com for more information.