EMR and Device Integration

Biomedical/Bedside/ICU Device Integration
In the words of the guru Tim Gee - Medical Connectivity Consulting "Medical device integration is a critical (and an often overlooked) part of EMR planning. To be successful, any plan must take into account many more considerations beyond getting an HL7 (or CCR) feed into the EMR. Multiple stakeholders including nursing and clinical/biomedical engineering must be engaged. Putting together a successful long term plan requires negotiations across traditional hospital silos and an in depth understanding of point-of-care workflows, medical device connectivity and device vendor offerings and product strategies".

The benefits of automated and real time vitals data documentation (heart rate, invasive/non-invasive blood pressure, respiration rate, oxygen saturation, blood glucose, etc.) from acute care monitoring devices have become so obvious that all hospitals now require that their clinical information system (CIS), anesthesia information management system (AIMS), bed management system (BMS)electronic medical records (EMR), electronic patient record system (EPR or PHR), or other hospital/healthcare information system (HIS) provide interfacing capabilities to biomedical devices, in order to ensure that key vital signs are stored in the HIS or Centralized Data Repository (CDR), to monitor and alert on patient progress over time.

Here is the HIMSS guide to the EMR Adoption Model.

Patient monitoring systems are among the first to be integrated; because any HIS requires at least  inpatient vital sign documentation. Integration with anesthesia devices is a must for any AIMS. Data collection from ventilator systems is essential. Infusion device data integration is becoming increasingly important in cases where CPOE systems are implemented.

But connecting to bedside medical devices and collecting data in your CIS or EPR is not easy. Device interface development is a specialized task that consumes resources and diverts attention away from core competencies. Competitive issues and legacy products make obtaining device protocols difficult and sometimes impossible. Incomplete connectivity results in frustration and decreased efficiency. Most of these devices have extended features such as 24x7 backup, alarms and multiple lines; some of the wireless device concerns are periodic docking or battery charging needs and wireless interference issues.

The various questions you need to have when integrating devices with an HIS are as below:

Categories of Medical Devices for Integration:

• Vital Signs or Diagnostics devices
• Infusion Pumps
• Dialysis devices
• Anesthesia machines
• ECG / EKG and EEG devices
• Endoscopy devices
• Glucometers and Lab Devices
• Urimeters
• Bedside devices
• Oximeters  
• Ventilators
• Ultrasound devices
• Stress testing devices
• Home care/monitoring devices

Type of Device Connectivity to the HIS

• Wireless/Mobile
• Fixed/"Wired Network"

Format of Message feed from Device(s) to the HIS

• HL7(or CCR) format result messages with possible Images links, etc across TCP/IP
• Proprietary format messages across TCP/IP
• Binary format data across USB or others

Format of Message feed to Device(s) from the HIS

• HL7(or CCR) format ADT messages across TCP/IP
• Proprietary format messages across TCP/IP
• Binary format data across USB or others

Frequency and Location of Device Data Feed to the HIS

• Continuous (Periodic) Real-time – 1 message per minute
• Manual (Aperiodic) or on-demand
• Server-based - with storage for real-time data and polling options
• Location: ICU or PACU or sleep clinic
• Timing Synchronization among all the devices-and-server systems is essential for accurate processing of the real time data.

Grouping of Device Data in the HIS is based on:

• Patient Chart sections
• Department needs and Security Roles
• Common Device Parameters
• Dependent Device Parameters
• Device Monitoring and Asset Tracking
• Display and Storage of the data - claims, clinical encounters, medication/pharmacy orders-results, lab orders-results and images - captured and mapped to a common (XML) format, possibly ASTM’s Continuity of Care Record (CCR or CCD) [providing for inter-operability between multiple HIS and Regional EMR systems].

Security Issues:

• Caregivers need access to validate device data onto the patient chart at point of care
• Unique Patient Identification (Global Patient ID).
• Audit trail, secure error handling and enterprise timestamps on device data.
• High speed secure network with firewalls to protect ePHI
• FDA guidelines compliance
• HIPAA guidelines compliance
• JCAHO guidelines compliance
• SSO and CCOW support 
• Legal guidelines compliance
• Anonymization or De-Identification for research patient data

Examples:

• Vital Signs mobile devices feed patient data real time to the EMR and a senior RN can review results before they are documented on the patients’ charts.
• Infusion Pumps drug/fluid delivery tracking in EMR for long term critical care.
• Enabling medical devices, such as infusion pumps, ECG machines and Glucometers, to wirelessly send data from the ICU/system to a patient’s medical record or to a physician
• Home care and chronic disease monitoring systems that provide patient feedback, patient monitoring and alerts (to both patients and physicians) to the EMR.

Software for Device Integration with the HIS:

• Capsule Technologie’ DataCaptor is a generic, third-party software + hardware suite that provides the most complete biomedical device connectivity solution available on the market. DataCaptor has the largest library of supported devices - more than 250 diverse bedside devices, advanced features, and easy integration with hospital information systems.
• Stinger Medical - Integriti - provides a secure and mobile method of transmitting patient vital signs wirelessly to the EMR.
• Current Capsule Technologie - DataCaptor - OEM partners include (among other HIS vendors of all sizes)
  
  
  • Epic Systems (EpicCare) ,
  • Philips Medical Systems (CareVue Chart/IntelliVue through DeviceLink),
  • Eclipsys Corporation (Sunrise Clinical Manager) and
  • Surgical Information Systems (anesthesia software and surgical system).

Benefits of Device Integration:
Used in several hospitals:

• To automate the flow of vital signs data and interface it to the HIS application for documentation, clinical review and insurance purposes.
• To reduce transcription/documentation errors. Currently, nurses manually transcribe the data from scratch pads or from the devices onto the patient report resulting in problems like indecipherable handwriting, data in the wrong chart, vital signs written on scraps of paper (hands, scrub suits, etc.) that get forgotten, and then there is sometimes considerable lag between readings and reporting.
• To decrease documentation time. Significant increases in productivity can be gained by an interface that allows the nurse to validate rather than enter the data.
• To support quality data collection (charts, images, vitals) and to provide increased surveillance for critical patients - even when the care-provider is not present at the bedside. This allows for safe collection of data over time, thus providing a more accurate and valid history of patient progress.
• To increase patient safety. Safety is enhanced by decreasing data entry errors, and by allowing the nurse to review data collected when he/she is not present at the bedside. In addition the data can be captured at an increased frequency creating a more accurate depiction of the patient’s condition.
• To enable research and quality control. Data can be collected for future analysis by de-identifying or anonymizing patient demographics. 
• To provide better patient care and more physician – patient contact time. A silent factor of a hospital's revenue is quality of patient care. One of the chief drivers of quality of patient care is the quality of information provided efficiently to the Physicians though which they can make those critical decisions.
• To securely and quickly share assessment, diagnosis, treatment and patient data across facilities/HIE's or Health Care Information Exchanges/RHIO (regions)/states thereby enabling the patient to be provided the best care anywhere.
• To reduce patient, physician and nurse stress and legal issues.
• To provide complete and comprehensive data on patient charts.
• To enable future devices to seamlessly connect to the existing EMR.
• To prevent errors in diagnosis, prescription and medication, by basing decisions on the entire patient history/allergies, the latest medications and the latest technology that is available to the patient and the care provider.
• Clinical (or Diagnostic) Decision Support Systems [CDSS] and Best Practice systems are more effective with comprehensive and secure digital files (historical patient charts).
• To provide for Business Intelligence searches/reports.
• To increase security and prevent tampering of Patient Records - since all data is digital and secured via layers of Role based security, by HIPAA and by Digital laws - the security is much more comprehensive than a system with voluminous paper records and difficult audit trails.
• Since, modern hospital ICU Beds are "smart devices", we have to consider Bed Management Systems (BMS) Integration - which has a vast scope coupled with KPI analytics such as bed planning, bed capacity utilisation, real time bed availability, bed prediction, real time bed status display, epidemic preparedness alerts, bed cleanliness alerts, etc., resulting in better capacity planning, reduced inefficiencies and increased resource utilisation and bed occupancy, thus leading to vastly improved care provider and patient experiences.
• Finally, to improve overall hospital throughput and patient hospital-visit time, success ratios and Improving Patient Efficiency Throughput.

I’ve linked the Capsule Technologie-DataCaptor web site below to show their method of ensuring data flow between DataCaptor (the server), Concentrator (the ‘router’ or Terminal box), the bedside devices and the HIS and other systems.

• http://capsuletech.com/

Note: This article is based on personal experiences and public information gathered from websites including Medical Connectivity Consulting and Capsule Technologies and other medical device manufacturer’s web-sites. Thanks to these companies for this public information and this document is intended solely for personal reading and understanding of this technology and is not for any commercial gain.

Since PACS is a type of "Device Integrator", the following is an addition to the above article:

Radiology RIS, Cardiology CIS, PACS and HIS/EMR Integration

The PACS - Picture Archiving and Communication System - is a filmless method of communicating and storing X-rays, CT/MRI/NM scans, other radiographs, Cardiology Cath/Echo images, etc - that are verified by Radiologists or Cardiologists - after being acquired by the X-ray, CT/MRI/NM, Cath, Echo machines and other variants used in the Radiology/Cardiology Departments. Images may be acquired from a patient in slices and with 3D or 4D image reconstruction - the entire patients' full body scan may be visualized on diagnostic quality workstations. Key images, Radiology reports and low resolution non-diagnostic images are provided for viewing on any screen - securely across the internet and for viewing in the HIS/EMR. If bandwidth permits - in certain cases - entire diagnostic quality images may be viewable, securely across the internet using network-aware compression technologies.

The RIS/CIS - Radiology/Cardiology Information System - enables "Radiology/Cardiology" patient scheduling, reporting/dictation, and image tracking to ensure that the PACS and the Radiology/Cardiology modalities are effectively utilized and the patients' structured reports are immediately available.

The EMR - Electronic Medical Records System or HIS - Hospital Information System - provide a "global" view or patient historical report folder of the patient's visits or encounters with his/her care providers. From a "Radiology/Cardiology" perspective - the EMR sends ADT/schedules/orders to a RIS/CIS and receives results including patient image/cine links and discrete/impression data from the PACS (via RIS/CIS) - thus enabling access to that patients Structured Reports in a single uniform location in the EMR. Thus, images can be integrated with the radiology report, and with other patient information systems' (such as laboratory, pharmacy, cardiology, and nursing) reports, thereby providing a comprehensive folder on the patient. Charges can also be sent from these systems to the HIS or automatically implemented inside the HIS - from where the final comprehensive claim can be sent to the insurance provider.

Key Features of a good PACS System are:

• Modules for comparison study of prior patient images, along with similar cases
• Modules for Computer Aided Detection using Clinical Decision Support Systems and Key Facets
• Excellent Data Compression Techniques ensure effective network utilization and high speed transfers of quality images to workstations and other web based viewing systems.
• Excellent EMR Integration based on IHE Integration Profiles, standard HL7 / CCR, standard DICOM and the support for secure, high-speed access to patient images via internet
• Standard Security Features along with audit trails and Integration with RIS/CIS and EMR security.
• Modules for 3D and 4D reconstruction of CT slices, Image Enhancement and Quality Printing
• Immediate availability of Images on network or CD/DVD for quick diagnosis and review by remote Radiologists/experts.
• Excellent Short Term Storage with very low retrieval time/latencies.
• Excellent Long Term Storage with decent retrieval time/latencies and predictable data recovery.
• VNA or Vendor Neutral Archives are commonly utilized by tertiary-care multi-specialty hospitals, to store XRay/CT/MRI/UltraSound images/reports for long term access. The chosen PACS system should support easy configuration and rapid access from the VNA apart from solving concerns with integrated reporting, single sign on security and multi-modality viewer issues.
• Excellent RIS/CIS Integration.
• Extensively tested and successfully working in other hospitals for 2 years at least.
• Multiple vendor modality Integration features.
• Downtime plan with Disaster Recovery Support.
• Easy Upgrade-ability of hardware/storage to ensure almost infinite storage based on hospital need
• Support for Research Patient data Anonymization or De-Identification
• Support for Reporting off the PACS/RIS/CIS for Business Intelligence reports and data analysis.

Now that you have (selected) the PACS and RIS/CIS systems, here is the list of questions you should have regarding integration with the EMR:

EMR and RIS/CIS/PACS Integration Issues:

• RIS/CIS/PACS features and limitations
• Modality support for DMWL (Digital Modality Worklist - ensuring correct patient scans at modality)
• Key Data Mappings between the RIS, CIS, PACS and EMR (eg. Study-DateTime, PatientID, ProviderID, CPT code, procedure code, Study Status, Accession number, etc.)
• Department Workflow changes (Types of Orders, Downtime Orders, Unsolicited Results, Billing, etc.)
• Data being displayed in the Modality Worklist and when does this worklist get updated?
• Historical data import, cut-off dates, access policies to legacy data, etc
• Security, User access and integrating the PACS/RIS/CIS users with the EMR users to enable secure web access to images.
• Concerns with VNA usage include easy interoperability, security, single sign on, reporting and data mining for Meaningful Use apart from the quick/efficient DICOM storage and retrieval concerns.
• De-Identification or Anonymization for Research patient studies.
• Business Intelligence reporting and Regional Patient Record Integration.

Note: The above article is based on personal experience and is not for any commercial gain.

Automated Workflow Environments and EMR

Well, we work in the next era of software development, not only designing applications, but also developing systems that communicate with each other, thus participating in a workflow.

Automating this workflow through the seamless integration of these apps is a task that challenges many of the industries that we work in.

Automated Workflow Environments are those systems where multiple systems contribute, collaborate and communicate to enable a network of these apps to actually solve complex problems very efficiently, with no human interaction. You can call them Digital Ecosystems.

You can construct workflow nets to describe the complex problems that these systems efficiently solve. Workflow nets, a subclass of Petri nets, are known as attractive models for analyzing complex business processes. Because of their good theoretical foundation, Petri nets have been used successfully to model and analyze processes from many domains, like for example, software and business processes. A Petri net is a directed graph with two kinds of nodes - places and transitions - where arcs connect 'a place' to 'a transition' or a transition to a place. Each place can contain zero, one or more tokens. The state of a Petri net is determined by the distribution of tokens over places. A transition can fire if each of its inputs contains tokens. If the transition fires, i.e. it executes, it takes one token from each input place and puts it on each output place.

In a hospital environment, for example, the patient journeys and processes involved, show a complex and dynamic behavior that is difficult to control. The workflow net which models such a complex process provides a good insight into it, and due to its formal representation, offers techniques for improved control.

Workflows are case oriented; each activity executes because of the case. In a hospital domain, a case corresponds with a patient symptom and an activity corresponds with a medical activity. The process definition of a workflow assumes that a partial order or sequence exists between activities, which establish which activities have to be executed in what order. Referring to the Petri net formalism, workflow activities are modeled as transitions and the causal dependencies between activities are modeled as places and arcs. The routing in a workflow assumes four kind of routing constructs: sequential, parallel, conditional and iterative routing. These constructs basically define the route taken by 'tokens' in this workflow.

Well, enough theory, how does this apply?

Think of this in practical terms using the example of an EMR* or CPR* System or HIS* System:
• A patient arrives at a hospital/clinic for a consultation or particular set of exams or procedures.
• The patient is registered using key demographics, if new to the hospital. A visit or encounter record is created in the Patient Chart (EMR) - with vitals, allergies, current meds and insurance details.
• The physician examines the patient and orders labs, diagnostic exams or prescription medications for the patient possibly using a handheld CPOE*
• The patient is scheduled for the radiliogy exams using the RIS - radiology info system; samples and specimens are sent to the LIS - laboratory info system or HIS (hospital info system)
• The RIS or CIS or LIS or HIS sends notifications to the Radiology and/or Cardiology and/or Lab or other Departments in the hospital through HL7 messages for the various workflows.
• The various systems in these departments will then send HL7 or DICOM or proprietary messages to get the devices or modalities, updated with the patient data (observations, restrictions, prior history, etc.)
• The patient is then taken around by the nurses to the required modalities in the exam/lab areas to perform the required activities. There may be lab reflex orders created to complete the lab procedures.
• The patient finishes the hospital activities while the diagnosis and study continues in the background with the care teams; these entire datasets are coalesced and stored in rich structured reports or multimedia formats in the various repositories - resulting in a summary patient encounter/visit record in the Electronic Patient Record in the EMR database along with possible follow up future visits and prescriptions.
• There could also be other workflows triggered - pharmacy, billing [based on CPT codes], etc.
• The above is just the scenario for an OUTPATIENT or Walk-in; there are other workflows for INPATIENT - ED/ICU/other patients.

The key problems in this 'Automated Workflow Environment' are:

• Accurate Patient Identification and Portability to ensure that the Patient Identity in the EMR is unique across multiple systems/departments/clinics and maybe hospitals. The Patient Identity key is also essential to Integrating Patient healthcare across clinics, hospitals, regions (RHIO) and states.
• Support for Barcode/RFID on Patient Wrist Bands, Prescriptions/Medications, Billing (using MRN, Account Number [and Visit/Encounter Number] and Order Number), etc to enable automation and quick and secure processing.
• Excellent interfacing with all primary ADT, Orders, Results, Charges, Supply Chain Management, Medication dispensing systems, Provider database systems, Registries, Financial software and IT Management and Transaction Tracking systems
• Quick Patient data retrieval and support for parallel transactions
• Audits and Logs for tracking access to this system
• Support for PACS, Emergency care, Chronic care (ICU / PACU), Long Term care, Periodic visits, point of care charting, meds administration, vital signs data acquisition, alarm notification, surveillance for patient monitors, smart IV pumps, ventilators and other care areas - treatment by specialists in off-site clinics, Tele-Health, refills at Pharmacies, etc.
• Support for Care Plans, Order sets and Templates, results' tracking and related transactions.
• Quick vital sign results and diagnostic imaging/reporting with role based access to appropriate patient data.
• Effective display of specialty content - diagnostic/research images and structured "rich" multimedia reports.
• Secure and efficient access to this data from the internet (home, affiliate clinics, other facilities)
• Removal of paper documentation and effective transcription through support for digital scanning of old documents and accurate linking to the patient charts.
• SSO-Single Sign On, Well defined Security roles, integrated Provisioning and Ease of use for the various stakeholders - here, the patient, the RN, physician, specialist, IT support, vendor maintenance, etc.
• Seamless integration with current workflows with easy extensibility and support for updates to hospital procedures/processes/equipment/regulations.
• Modular deployment of new systems and processes with a long term roadmap and strategies to prevent costly upgrades or vendor changes or technology limitations.
• HIPAA, HL7, JCAHO/JCI and Legal compliance - an entire set of guidelines - privacy, security being the chief ones. HL7 compliance implies easy integration with other hospital/clinic systems. A hospital with HIMSS Stage 7 certification implies portable digital data end to end, with reduced paperwork and a seemless patient experience, without cumbersome physical documentation, with support for convenient online appointments, online patient results, online provider access,  online prescription refills, regulatory compliance, reduced error, etc.
• Efficient standardized communication between the different systems either via "standard" HL7 or DICOM or CCOW or proprietary.
• Seemless support for integration with a High speed Fiber network system for high resolution image processing systems such as MRI, X-Ray, CT, etc.
• A high speed independent network for real time patient monitoring systems and devices
• Guaranteed timely Data storage and recovery with at least 99.9999% visible uptime
• Original Patient data available for at least 7 years and compliance with FDA/regulatory rules.
• Disaster recovery compliance and responsive resilient performance under peak conditions. Redundancy and Disaster Recovery implies that the system is easily recoverable without significant operational disruptions. Monitoring historic downtime trends and reviewing of downtime strategies apart from periodic verification of hot and cold recovery in off peak hours would ensure confident stress free adoption by the patient care teams.  

• Optimized, on demand and elastic data storage ensuring low hardware costs
• Plug 'n' Play of new systems and medical devices into the network, wireless interference-free communication among the vital signs devices and servers, etc.
• Location tracking of patients, providers and devices (RFID based) within the hospital
• Centralized viewing of the entire set of relevant patient data - either by a patient or his/her physician
• Correction of erroneous data and merging of Patient records.
• support for restructuring existing hospital workflows and processes so that this entire automated workflow environment works with a definite ROI and within a definite time period!
• Integration with billing, insurance and other financial systems related to the care charges.
• Integration with Business Intelligence systems for statistical comparisons, quality indicators, patient feedback, efficiency tracking, fraud prevention, epidemic prevention, anonymized research and reasonable prediction of outcomes. 
• Support for De-Identification or Anonymization for research studies.
• Future proof and support for new technologies like Clinical Decision Support (CDSS) - again, a long term roadmap is essential.
• Multi-lingual user interface and international data exchange possibilities
• ROI: How does a hospital get timely returns on this IT investment?

1. Minimization of errors - medication or surgical - and the associated risks
2. Electronic trail of patient case history available to patient, insurance and physicians
3. Reduced documentation and improvement in overall efficiency and throughput
4. Patient Referrals from satellite clinics who can use the EMR's external web links to document on patients - thus providing a continuous electronic report
5. Possible pay-per-use by external clinics/pharmacies - to use EMR charting/e-refill facilities
6. Remote specialist consultation
7. Efficient Charges, Billing and quicker settlements
8. Better Clinical Decision Support - due to an electronic database of past treatments
9. In the long term, targetted efficiency and essential innovation provides for better preventive care implying cheaper insurance and optimized treatment ensuring  fewer bills and reduced claim denials, thus leading to volume income, increased patient satisfaction with referrals to friends and relatives, providing long term sustainability in fiercly competitive environments and reducing state expenditure while improving care quality in socialist healthcare regions.
10. Better compliance of standards and policies - HIPAA, JCI, privacy requirements, security 
11. Reduced workload due to Process Improvement across departments - ED, Obstetrics/Gynecology, Oncology/Radiology, Orthopedic, Cardiovascular, Pediatrics, Internal Medicine, Urology, General Surgery, Ophthalmology, General/family practice, Dermatology, Psychiatry
12. Improved Healthcare with Proactive/Preventive Patient Care due to CDSS.
13. Efficient usage of Providers, Hospital Beds and Outpatient Devices/Resources through Predictive Planning using real time data and historic visit information - leading to improved outcomes for multiple patients receiving predictable and quality care in paperless and advanced medical centers. 
14. Quality of Patient Care: A silent factor of a hospital's revenue is quality of patient care. One of the chief drivers of quality of patient care is the quality of information provided efficiently to the Physicians though which they can make those critical decisions.
15. Performance Metrics or KPI's: Any hospital system needs efficient SMART goals that are periodically evaluated and improved upon:
• Operational: Average Length of Stay/Volume Metrics, Time to service, Hospital Incidents/Infections, Patient Satisfaction, Physician performance, Patient readmission rate, Inpatient mortality rate, Operating Margin/Financial Metrics, Bed Occupancy Rate/Revenue Leakage Metrics/No-shows, Asset Utilization Rates/Inventory Turns, Service Requests
• Server: CPU/RAM utilization report, (avg. time of disc transfer, I/Os per disc, Disc queues per spindle, average login time, average report display times, number of simultaneous users, Availability, Network Latency
• Vendors: Service Requests, Incidents, SLA Response times
16. Improved Emergency care through real time hospital preparedness, apart from reduced ambulance travel time
17. Reduced Claims Denials: A hospital system that is well integrated and optimized for improved patient care, outcomes and experiences all the way from supplies procurement through optimal utilization, and with accurate documentation implying accurate fulfillment and accurate patient diagnosis and treatment processes (with the possible usage of Artificial Intelligence to feedback past/historical experience data into front end systems) finally leads to reduction in Claims Denials.
18. Standards compliance: Innovative future-safe solutions need to be standards compliant since these standards are regularly reviewed by expert committees, vendors and regulators.
19. Improved Community Health: Corporate Social Responsibility for regions implies better governance through reduced epidemics and better public health, mainly achievable through central health data repositories that receive realtime anonymized patient data from the various regional hospitals' EMR systems; the centralized health system in turn can provide alerts that prevent and restrict outbreaks in realtime apart from providing regional best practices and medication alerts to these subscribers.
20. Customization and Adoption:  Technology or Innovation can only be as good as the customization involved for a seamless provider-patient experience. Too many clicks or screens can and will convert the clinical documentation task into painful detective work. The Digital Transformation of Healthcare when done right, has already proven invaluable (Epidemic detection and reduction, Standardized quality of care for common ailments, Knowledge base of Expert techniques, Well documented case histories, Anonymized Research for future improvements and life saving techniques, Medicare fraud prevention, Prevention of Insurance headaches and paperwork, Global digital access for patients to their prescriptions-records-scans-physicians, telemedicine, etc.). Over a reasonable time/effort, the healthcare system EMR would be customized to provide the best provider-patient interaction experience, similar to the pre-digital era. Experienced EMR implementation teams need to advise the best in class technology available for the requirements and demographics/economics involved.    
     

Now, the big picture becomes clear.

Doesn't the above set of requirements apply to any domain? This analysis need not be applicable only to a hospital domain, the same is true for a Biotech domain (where orders are received, data is processed, analyzed, and the processed data is presented or packaged). Similarly a Manufacturing Domain, Banking domain or Insurance Domain etc.

The need is for core engine software - based on EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) - that integrate and help in the Process Re-Engineering of these mini workflows securely and effectively and using common intersystem communication formats like X-12 or HL7 messages.

These Workflow Engines would be the hearts of the digital world!

Buzzwords:
*EMR - Electronic Medical Record
*CPR - Computerized Patient Record
*CDSS - Clinical Decision Support
*RHIO - Regional Health Information Organization
*CPOE - computerized physician order entry

Some of the information presented here is thanks to research papers and articles at:
*EMR Adoption Model
*Common Framework for health information networks
*Discovery of Workflow Models for Hospital Data
*Healthcare workflow
*CCOW-IHE Integration Profiles
*Hospital Network Management Best Practices
*12 Consumer Values for your wall

Healthcare Exchanges are the future:
   Imagine a scenario, wherein a patient can use his healthcare card to receive care in any hospital in his state, province or country.  Healthcare Information Exchanges (HIE) are data aggregating and messaging systems that provide population healthcare data, unified patient lookup, medication/procedure reviews, epidemic monitoring, anonymous patient research, cost savings through fraud prevention, optimal e-prescription systems, best care for current symptoms, clear billing comparisons, online regional provider appointments, insurance marketplaces, etc.; patients would also get to choose the best insurance provider from this health exchange using detailed statistics, patients could opt for cost effective and optimal treatment plans and patients would have true portability.    

    Successful HIE implementations have common threads of success:​

•     They meet and balance many stakeholder needs​
•     They are flexible and enable the continuous discovery of niche areas that further add significant value to their stakeholders and community​
•     Their passionate leaders continually discover new sources of funding (both public and private) to remain financially viable, at least initially​

    The several Challenges and HIE Implementation Risks include:​

•     Lack of interoperability standards in existing infrastructure and legacy vendors are sometimes slow to acceptance
•     Lack of available and hospital facility IT resources, etc., lending to longer integration times and escalating costs​
•     Competing priorities in the hospitals/departments during the HIE rollout can also slow down the implementation​
•     Rapidly changing technology shifts may provide alternatives to the services that HIEs offer or plan to offer​
•     Possible duplication and reimplementation of existing applications of the current ecosystem could indirectly increase scope​
•     Slow Integration into existing workflows and slow adoption of the HIE post go live would be detrimental​
•     Slow pace of HIE service adoption by clinical and health policy stakeholders​
•     Rapidly escalating costs due to premium vendor costs​
•     Fading local and federal government financial sponsorships​   

    The solutions include:​

•     Prioritizing and appropriately phasing the HIE implementation. Timely and careful implementation of high value bundles of HIE services would help drive adoption and ensure sustainability​
•     Understanding and responding to stakeholder/customer needs on an ongoing basis and offering products and services that solve their problems is a win-win​
•     Achieving early value in HIE implementations builds trust driving open, transparent growth ​
•     Leveraging lightweight and flexible technologies 
•     Consistent implementation of interoperability standards is fundamental to achieving widespread HIE adoption​
•     Identifying and reaching a critical mass of connected providers and hospitals/clinics/pharmacies is key
•     Further, business intelligence and data analytics over the HIE would support actionable, effective clinical decision making, thus driving quality and cost improvement and transforming healthcare to pay-for-value​

The HIE implementation ROI can be measured through clinical outcomes, clinical process outcomes, financial savings, and user satisfaction apart from providing the government with valuable population health metrics including improvements in healthcare standards, epidemic and medication control, optimal healthcare delivery, etc. The typical metrics include: Utilization (exchange transactions); Participation (engagement of stakeholders); Clinical outcomes (quality indicators); Financial (cost avoidance and fraud prevention); and Users (active providers using system). Clinical process measures, including workflow, and measures of provider or patient satisfaction would indicate lower adoption of the HIE initially, since it would more typically be more frequently used during clinical reviews and policy planning apart from insurance markets/providers. Clinical outcomes, financial measures, measures of satisfaction, and clinical process measures should quickly ramp up to exhibit the highest reported usages in future.


What about the latest IT trends and their applications in healthcare?

We already know about Google Earth and Google Hybrid Maps and the advantages of Web 2.0
The next best thing is to search the best shopping deal or the best real estate by area and on a hybrid map - this recombinant web application reuse technique is called a mashup or heat map.
Mashups have applications in possibly everything from Healthcare to Manufacturing.
Omnimedix is developing and deploying a nationwide data mashup - Dossia, a secure, private, independent network for capturing medical information, providing universal access to this data along with an authentication system for delivery to patients and consumers.

Click on the below links to see the current 'best in class mash ups'
*After hours Emergency Doctors SMS After hours Emergency Doctors SMS system - Transcribes voicemail into text and sends SMS to doctors. A similar application can be used for Transcription Mashup (based on Interactive Voice Response - IVR): Amazon Mturk, StrikeIron Global SMS and Voice XML
* Calendar with Messages Listen to your calendar + leave messages too Mashup (based on IVR): 30 Boxes based on Voxeo , Google Calendar
* http://www.neighboroo.com/ http://homepricerecords.com/- Housing/Climate/Jobs/Schools
* Visual Classifieds Browser - Search Apartments, visually
* http://www.trulia.com/ - Real Estate/Home pricing
* http://www.rentometer.com/ - Rent comparison
* http://weatherbonk.com/- Weather maps
* http://frucall.com/ - Free comparison shopping with your cell phone
* http://woozor.com/ - 10 days weather forecast - worldwide map
* http://www.liveplasma.com/ - Find matching music/movie based on "genre" in a visual way
* http://www.housingmaps.com/ - Rent/Real Estate/Home pricing - linked to Craigslist
* http://virtualtourism.blogspot.com/ - Google Maps + Travel Videos
* http://wheelof.com/lunch/ - Wheel of Zip Code based restaurants
* More sample links at this site (unofficial Google mashup tracker) http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/ includes some mentionable sites :
* latest news from India by map http://www.mibazaar.com/news/
* read news by the map - slightly slow http://lab.news.com.au/maps/v01
* view news from Internet TV by map - http://5tvs.com/internet-tv-maps/news/
* see a place in 360 http://www.seevirtual360.com/Map.aspx

What's on the wish list ? Well, a worldwide mashup for real estate, shopping, education, healthcare will do just fine. Read on to try out YOUR sample...
OpenKapow: The online mashup builder community that lets you easily make mashups. Use their visual scripting environment to create intelligent software Robots that can make mashups from any site with or without an API.
In the words of Dion HinchCliffe, "Mashups are still new and simple, just like PCs were 20 years ago. The tools are barely there, but the potential is truly vast as hundreds of APIs are added to the public Web to build out of".
Don also covers the architecture and types of Mashups here with an update on recombinant web apps

Keep up to date on web2.0 at http://blog.programmableweb.com/

Will Silverlight and simplified vector based graphics and workflow based - xml language - XAML be the replacement for Flash and JavaFX?

Well, the technology is promising and many multimedia content web application providers including News channels have signed up for Microsoft SilverLight "WPF/E" due to the light weight browser based viewer streaming "DVD" quality video based on the patented VC-1 video codec.

Microsoft® Silverlight™ Streaming by Windows Live™ is a companion service for Silverlight that makes it easier for developers and designers to deliver and scale rich interactive media apps (RIAs) as part of their Silverlight applications. The service offers web designers and developers a free and convenient solution for hosting and streaming cross-platform, cross-browser media experiences and rich interactive applications that run on Windows™ XP+ and Mac OS 10.4+. There is a Silverlight for LINUX too (Moonlight-Mono)

The new way to develop your AJAX RIA "multimedia web application" is - design the UI with an Artist in MS Expression Blend or Adobe Illustrator and mashup with your old RSS, LINQ, JSON, XML-based Web services, REST and WCF Services to deliver a richer scalable web application.