The Michigan Health Information Network, or MiHIN, shared services have partnered with Beyond Lucid Technologies, a healthcare data exchange and analytics company, as well as the Reading Emergency Department and South Central-based Hillsdale Hospital.
The goal is to facilitate data exchange between REUs and hospitals through MiHIN’s secure network. Not only will outpatient health professionals have access to a more comprehensive view of their patients, but MiHIN will also forward their ongoing care records to Hillsdale Hospital so providers have a complete picture of a patient’s condition before they arrive.
WHY IT MATTERS
Despite being an integral part of the health care delivery system, fire and ambulance services that respond to health emergencies rarely exchange real-time data. When they do, the data is often in formats that are incompatible with electronic health records or health information exchanges, MiHIN explained in an announcement of the interoperability pilot program on Tuesday.
But with data flowing, mobile health care providers can improve decision-making and care outcomes, and hospitals, health systems, and care centers where patients come and go can eliminate delays and address pain points in patient handoffs.
This is a major step forward in achieving interoperability in health care, according to Jeremiah Hodshire, president and CEO of Hillsdale Hospital.
“This collaborative pilot project, which facilitates real-time data exchange between EMS and hospitals, will simplify the process of transferring patients from EMS to the ER, allowing us to work together as one team,” he said in a statement.
Exchanging real-time data at critical moments can save lives.
Dr. Tim Pletcher, chief executive officer of MiHIN, said in the announcement that the partnership promises to improve access to patient data and reduce errors “related to incomplete or inaccurate information.”
When the REU ambulance transports a patient to Hillsdale Hospital, the service transmits an electronic patient care record containing the patient’s clinical data – including vital signs, history, and social determinants of health – and BLT’s Mediview Beacon platform converts the data into a Continuity of Care Document and transmits it to MiHIN. MiHIN then leverages its network to route the CCD to Hillsdale Hospital.
By putting MiHIN at the heart of the data-sharing model, providers will know what mobile clinicians are doing in the field and better understand why they “belong in healthcare,” Jonathon Feit, co-founder and CEO of BLT, said in a statement.
“This is not a matter of Fire or Emergency, or public or private service.”
“It’s about continuity of patient care and making sure everyone is on the same page so that responders can provide the most informed care possible.”
“Over the years, [REU] “We spent countless hours managing patient data, often dealing with challenges like waiting for callbacks and faxing documents,” added Keith O’Neill, managing director of the mobile care unit.
In the second phase of the pilot, MiHIN will establish real-time data exchange between patients and outpatient agencies, allowing ambulatory clinicians to access medication and discharge reports from participating hospitals. MiHIN will also share outpatient CCDs with other members of the patient care team within its network.
HIE said it also plans to expand the pilot program to include the Long Lake Fire-Rescue service in Grand Traverse County and other services as part of a federally funded partnership with BLT.
THE BIGGER TREND
According to data analysts working in the field and presenting at HIMSS24, the healthcare industry is not making enough use of emergency medical response data.
Erica Matti, senior analyst at the University of Michigan’s Center for Transforming Research and Health, and Joshua Legler, EMS data consultant for the National Emergency Medical Services Information System Technical Support Center, addressed the urgent need for EMS to exchange field health care data.
Matti noted that the center is testing technical changes to state EMS records to facilitate exchanges.
“No other area of health care has this level of information at the community level and it really is an untapped source of health and social needs data,” she said.
ON PROFILE
“Michigan is a complex pre- and post-discharge medical transportation ecosystem, and the partners on this project wanted to create a pipeline so that any mobile medical agency could enjoy the benefits of true interoperability across the state,” Feit said in a statement.
“Ambulances and fire trucks are often the first point of contact for sick patients.
“It’s an emergency,” Pletcher added. “In urgent situations like this, having quick access to accurate patient health information is critical to making informed decisions and providing effective care.”
Andrea Fox is senior editor of Healthcare IT News.
Email: [email protected]
Healthcare IT News is a publication of HIMSS Media.
