Faculty BYOD 

All Providers (Physicians, APPs, Residents, Fellows)

I am concerned about having my personal cell phone listed on Amion and for others to see. 

Personal cell phone numbers will not be listed on any public facing websites and will be password protected. The hospitals/health systems are also exploring changing the Amion password to be more secure. Soon, at UCH, when you sign into Amion, the system will direct you to a single sign on and anyone without cuanschutz.edu or UCHealth.org login credentials will not be able to access. Further, it is acceptable for providers to explore alternate options including purchasing an additional phone, e-sim, or an alternative VoIP phone number (such as google voice or Jabber for faculty with an office phone number).

It is unacceptable that the CUSOM or the health systems ask me to pay for something for work out of my own pocket.

There are multiple things you pay for related to your work that are not compensated; some examples include medical license fees, parking, and personal diagnostic equipment (stethoscopes). The CUSOM has a policy for submitting for reimbursement. Each individual department may determine how they can offer compensation for personal device use. https://www.cu.edu/controller/procedures/finance-procedural-statements/finance-procedural-statement-personal-technology

I am concerned about cellular dead spots in my office, clinic, or hospital.

Providers are encouraged to use Wi-Fi for conducting work on their personal devices. If you have concerns about a particular area, please contact the specific IT office responsible for your area to report an issue and request an evaluation of your Wi-Fi signal.

NOTE: CUSOM and UCHealth are both undergoing an extensive project to upgrade Wi-Fi access points which will be done by July 26 go live.

Incorporating work applications on my personal device will interfere with my work-life balance.

Alerts through the Epic Haiku application are completely customizable so you can differentiate alerts from work (with different priorities) vs. alerts from your personal life. Further, by using the sign-in and sign-out functionality in Epic, you will be able to notify others when you should and should not be contacted. Finally, a new status coming to Epic on 7/26/23 called “Offline” will allow you to block all alerts and notify the sender you are not available.

I already get too many alerts; won’t this just make it worse?

We acknowledge there is a learning curve where providers, nurses and staff will be learning how to communicate judiciously and appropriately through the new modalities. We are working with all parties to “Message Wisely”. Further, the ability to customize your alerts will allow you to better triage your workflows to mitigate interruptions. In our present state, we are unable to measure how many pages are sent. Moving to a single platform will allow for better tracking and future interventions for efficient communication.

I’m worried I won’t wake up to Epic Haiku alerts and/or I don’t want my phone to ring while I’m asleep unless an emergency.

Urgent alerts will override/breakthrough any native phone settings at maximal volume with a set tone and will repeat. Additionally, you can set customize specific applications to breakthrough “Sleep/Do Not Disturb” settings on your phone.

What if my phone is damaged?

We encourage all providers to mitigate this how they normally would if their pager became nonfunctional i.e. find another way to be contacted.  The nice thing about this new role based Epic sign in is that you can easily move to another device download Haiku and sign in with the new contact number. If your phone is damaged during a shift, you can still receive secure chat messages and identify new consults on a desktop or laptop computer while obtaining another device.

NOTE:if you are on a CODE team or responsible for urgent patient care issues and your phone becomes nonfunctional, your options will depend on the hospital where you are working. You may need to transfer that responsibility to another provider until you can procure another device.

I’m worried about my personal device and data being confiscated.

The CUSOM BYOD policy clarifies what was already true: if any CUSOM employee uses their personal device for work they are subject to the open records statutes. This also applies to use of work-related emails on phones or any other work-related activity on a personal device. So long as providers only use the mobile Epic Haiku application for clinical work, their personal device would not be open to risk as that data is wholly contained in the EHR application and accessible through secure servers. Further, text messages and other materials must be specifically listed in a records request so it is highly unlikely providers would ever need to submit their entire phone. In addition to HIPAA, this is another reason not to text about patients, etc.

Can’t the hospital/health system just give me a phone like they do for nurses?

Unfortunately, no. Providers are mobile and may cover multiple sites or go home while on “shift” or on call. Hospital provided phones do not work outside of a particular facility. Further, hospital provided phones eliminate the ability to customize settings described above which result in unwanted interruptions. Finally, nurses are discouraged from having their personal devices out at work and are restricted from having their personal devices in patient care areas. Allowing providers use their personal device for work lets providers attend to personal matters without being limited by hospital oversight of time management.

What if I am scrubbed into a case?

There are multiple peri-operative workgroups working to accommodate this unique area. Several features, including automatic message forwarding when marked present in a case, are available and being customized to address the procedural area workflows. Finally, setting different alert types for different urgencies will allow you to determine whether it is necessary to break-scrub to answer a message.

Will I have to manually sign-in? What if I forget?

Yes, as that’s how Epic knows in real time who is covering a particular role. Signing in ensures the most accurate, real time information about who is caring for a particular patient.  It allows for customization and team management so people trying to communicate can know who to contact and decreases unnecessary communications to the wrong team members. When you sign in, you can set the time for automatic sign out. The Amion call schedule will be integrated into Epic for many teams, but this is a backup plan and not designed to be the default. 

Can I be signed into and receive messages from multiple hospitals into the same Haiku application at the same time?

Yes!

Can I sign into multiple provider teams at once?

Yes!

My clinic/unit already has great communication that does not use pagers – will this go away?

In general, no! The goal is to enhance where communication is currently fragmented (i.e. anywhere with pagers) while allowing already high performing areas to keep doing so. We are working with every single unit/service-line/department to ensure the functionality matches your needs.

What if I refuse to provide my own device?

Faculty are not contractually forced to comply, however by doing so you acknowledge you are potentially placing your colleagues and patients at risk for substandard communication and care, respectively. If you do not have the mobile Haiku application on your device, you will not be able to receive prioritized alerts. Further, if working on a consult service, you will need to manually monitor for new consults, or rely on your teammates to notify you – virtually necessitating that you remain at a computer and on site. We encourage you to discuss whether you will still be able to perform your necessary clinical duties without a device with your Division Head.

NOTE: Residents and fellows are required to furnish their own device as described in the annual training agreement.

Resident and Fellows

$150 is insufficient compensation for a cell phone with data plan.

The $150 is not meant to cover the entire cost of a cell phone and data plan, rather to supplement the cost as these are personal devices. We explored having CUSOM provided devices but there were technical limitations to providing devices that provided the needed tools without blocking users from installing other third-party applications. The data plan needs should be minimal as all work can be conducted over Wi-Fi which residents have at work and home .