Author: CODESM Support

Patient Data Synergy: CareShare and Availity

As a healthcare provider, comprehensive patient data is critical to your ability to offer excellent patient care. But, you also do not have hours to spend searching and organizing multi-form, multi-source data in order to get the information you need. Enter Connected Care Exchange: Our CareShare app, powered by data management app Availity, puts comprehensive patient data at your fingertips in a digestible format. 

About CareShare

Our CareShare app is a seamless way of improving patient care by putting timely data at your fingertips through an intuitive user interface. As a Smart on FHIR app, CareShare enables secure, dynamic data exchange to ensure that providers always have the most up-to- date information at the point of care. CareShare improves transitions of care through timely access to patient data. Other benefits include:

  • Support of EMR launch to maximize workflow efficiency
  • Better communication between organizations

Why is CareShare so revolutionary? Because it helps you to stop working with limited, fragmented, or missing clinical data. The CCE, in partnership with Patient Centric Solutions, puts a complete, patient-centered record at the point of care through the CareShare app. Use this app to 

  • Eliminate gaps in care
  • Improve care collaboration
  • Improve transitions of care
  • Reduce costs

About Availity

Did you know that up to 50 percent of raw data is unusable due to details buried in the text, redundancies, and other issues? Availity Fusion upcycles that raw data into usable information with value that lasts a lifetime.  This intelligent data management system automatically takes multidata and multi-form information and organizes it into a digestible, easy-to-use format, while eliminating redundancies and sorting through every piece of data to pull out the most important details. 

How CareShare and Availity Work Together

For our CareShare app, Availity Fusion aggregates the patient data from multiple sources into usable, consolidated, and redundancy-free information. We can then use that data through the CareShare app to put a complete patient record in one central location. 

That means no sifting through data for you. No lost time looking for information. And no missing critical data because the details are buried. Instead, together, CCE and Availity create an easy-to-use way to access comprehensive, timely patient records when you need them. 

Get the best available data to guide your patient care. Get CareShare for your practice, and let us put the patient data you need at your fingertips. Contact us today to learn more, or watch the video above! 

New Service – Notifiable Conditions Dashboard

The Notifiable Conditions Dashboard is a resource that allows hospitals, clinics, laboratories, and other healthcare facilities to report conditions of illness considered to be public health emergencies, outbreaks, exotic diseases, and unusual group expressions of disease to the county and state at a much faster pace.

The dashboard contains components that are similar and according to the Infectious Disease Report with areas regarding the reporter, the practitioner’s office reporting the condition, the patient’s demographic information, the condition that is being recorded, and supporting documents such as laboratory results.

This dashboard relieves the stresses of faxing the information, removes the complications that come with incorrect information being recorded through misspelling and/or misreading information that is provided by authorized personnel, and as previously mentioned, brings forth a much faster pace through the use of auto-fill opportunities.

The use of the dashboard has the capability to bring a better, safer, and healthier environment to those living within the Rio Grande Valley.

First Annual Healthcare Hackathon Was A Great Success

Weslaco, TX, November 19, 2019

Rio Grande Valley Health Information Exchange (RGV HIE) is proud to announce the successful completion of its first annual Healthcare Hackathon held November 8-10th at the UTRGV CIC in Weslaco. Over 30 participants were challenged to use RGV HIE’s FHIR enabled platform to develop mobile healthcare applications, patient engagement solutions, and population health analytics. Participants also enjoyed classes and educational presentations from Health Samurai and Verato.

The hackathon agenda included a networking event Friday evening and educational sessions from subject matter experts on healthcare challenges impacting the community. Participants formed teams and were asked to work on a business plan and technical solutions using FHIR.

Four teams were given 24 hours to work on their projects, followed by an opportunity to present their solution, give a demonstration and discuss how their idea would provide an answer to one of the healthcare challenges presented. The teams brought their solutions to the judges, who included Dr. Sheila Magoon, MD, Executive Director BvYS ACO, Abraham Isai Castano, BBA License Nursing Facility, and Michael Muniz, Muniz Rio Grande Pharmacy.

“The innovation that FHIR is bringing to the healthcare industry as an API is unparalleled” shared Genaro Garza, Director of Technology for RGV HIE. “The apps that were developed during the Hackathon showcased how powerful this technology is and the opportunities that remain to be uncovered.”

The winning team was awarded to RAPITRAK: EMS Solutions, who took first place with their innovative application that enables paramedics to communicate with hospitals prior to arrival, sharing real-time data that improves systems of care in time-sensitive emergencies. All gathered information was stored and shared over a Patient and Provider portal, allowing ease of access and documentation throughout the treatment and care process.

EnRoute Analytics took home second place at the event by tackling the issue of fragmented analytics in regards to the information paramedics and hospitals gather and log. With a standard set of reporting across these two entities, EnRoute Analytics enables EMS providers to better understand the effectiveness of their care and what steps can be taken to increase efficiencies.

Andrew Lombardo Executive Director for RGV HIE stated, “the Hackathon was a fantastic opportunity to showcase the talent and creativity of the members in our community.” As one of the HIEs in the state of Texas, the RGV HIE is leveraging our FHIR platform for community members to engage in implementing solutions to address regional healthcare challenges.

Martha Machado, UTRGV student, said the following, “this event has opened our eyes to the problems we are facing in healthcare right now, and all the possibilities that can be uncovered when great minds join forces. We are looking forward to participating in next year’s event!”

Thank you to our sponsors, South Texas Physician Alliance, Health Samurai, South Texas Health System, Verato, and Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas for their ongoing support of creativity and drive for change in the Rio Grande Valley. For more information on the hackathon, please visit our event homepage at htttps://rgvhie.org/hackathon.

 

 

 

About RGV HIE
The Rio Grande Valley Health Information Exchange (RGV HIE) is a non-profit organization dedicated to facilitating the secure exchange of patient health information to improve communication and patient care in South Texas. The RGV HIE brings a regional-level infrastructure solution that connects information between participating health care organizations and providers by integrating disparate systems and enabling the exchange and use of critical patient information for making care-related decisions at the point of care. We work with physicians, hospitals, and other healthcare organizations to ensure that critical health information is communicated in a consistent and secure manner. For more information, please visit https://www.ccehie.org/.

RGV HIE Launches 1st Annual Healthcare Hackathon

Participants To Drive Innovative Solutions For the Industry’s Most Challenging Issues.

Welasco, TX., (10/15/2019) – Rio Grande Valley Health Information Exchange (RGV HIE) will host a Healthcare Hackathon bringing together change agents and out of the box problem solvers to create new ideas and products addressing issues in the healthcare sector. This year’s event, sponsored by South Texas Physician Alliance, Health Samurai, Elimu Informatics, and South Texas Health System, will be held November 8-10 at the UTRGV Regional Center for Innovation and Commercialization in Welasco, TX.

The event challenges participants to use RGV HIE’s FHIR enabled platform to develop mobile healthcare applications, patient engagement solutions, and population health analytics. The goal of these solutions is to integrate with electronic health record systems, using these applications to meet different workflow needs and provide clinical decision support.

In addition to hands-on experiences, attendees will be joined by speakers covering topics including EMS/Disaster Planning, Public Health, Population Health, Medication Adherence, and Patient Access and Engagement.

RGV HIE is calling for participants from any industry or background with a desire to create boundary-pushing ideas and meaningful solutions to submit their registration for the event on their website. For more information about the Hackathon, including agenda, speaker information, and registration, please visit https://www.ccehie.org/hackathon/.

 

About RGV HIE
The Rio Grande Valley Health Information Exchange (RGV HIE) is a non-profit organization dedicated to facilitating the secure exchange of patient health information to improve communication and patient care in South Texas. The RGV HIE brings a regional-level infrastructure solution that connects information between participating health care organizations and providers by integrating disparate systems and enabling the exchange and use of critical patient information for making care-related decisions at the point of care. We work with physicians, hospitals, and other healthcare organizations to ensure that critical health information is communicated in a consistent and secure manner.

What is an EMPI and Why Is It Important?

Hospitals and healthcare systems that aren’t running an efficient EMPI (Enterprise Master Patient Index) platform are more likely to have their EHR system filled with duplicate patient records and inaccurate information about their patients. These discrepancies may cause potential risks to the patient and compromise the quality of care and treatment. Accurate patient identification is critical to providing the best patient care, however, patient matching implications can happen during the patient registration process. Patients do not always give correct demographic information, and patient identifiers, such as demographic data, Social Security numbers and patients’ addresses can be mistyped easily, this may cause discrepancies and duplicate records in the system.

An efficient EMPI platform is only the start of patient identification improvement. Our EMPI system uses a cloud-based matching platform that links and matches patients across disparate databases or organizations with the highest accuracy rates in the industry. It uses referential matching to get an exact match when looking up patients in the EMPI system. The use of the EMPI helps the health information exchange to better match and link patient records across its participating providers.

The RGVHIE Partners With TRAC to Provide HIE to Local 911 EMS Responders

The Rio Grande Valley Health Information Exchange (RGVHIE) is pleased to announce that it will be collaborating with the Trauma Regional Advisory Council (TRAC) to provide the technology and services required to support health information exchange (HIE) for local 911 EMS responders. With this new system, EMS providers will have access to the critical patient information they need to initiate effective treatments, and improve the overall quality of emergency care.

Prior to this partnership, TRAC had identified a need to improve the communication between EMS provider and hospital emergency departments. EMS responders did not have the capability to access, send, and receive the information they needed for time-sensitive treatments. The RGVHIE will create the technical infrastructure for EMS providers to get immediate access to patient medical records in order to make the best possible treatment decisions while transporting patients to the emergency room.

With a specialized lineup of services, the RGVHIE will help fill the information gap by providing solutions at the point of care. The interoperability service integrates with a wide range of EMS software and serves as a conduit for health information exchange. EMS responders can easily access patient information using the secure Provider Portal. RGVHIE will also offer training and support for this new solution to ensure that EMS staff can utilize the system to access timely patient information at the point of care.

The RGVHIE firmly believes that access to information leads to better care, more efficient transitions of care, and improved outcomes and experiences. We will continue working with EMS providers to ensure that their health information exchange systems support the goal of delivering better emergency services for all patients in the community.

Congratulations to Billy J. Cortez

Congratulations to Billy J. Cortez

We are pleased to announce that Billy J. Cortez is now Mirth Certified. Being Mirth Certified gives RGV HIE the capability and knowledge needed to connect clinics and health organizations to exchange health information using the Mirth Connect Integration Engine.

As the “data steward” for the community to share patient health information, we have put in place processes and oversight to ensure privacy and security to facilitate the secure exchange of protected health information. Although most hospitals and providers have electronic health record (EHR) systems, most are not able to share information electronically among different EHR vendors. The result by default is most providers still fax copies of health records to each other.

Our Integration engine service offers an affordable solution for clinics and health organizations to share patient health information to meet current legislative requirements such as Meaningful Use, PCMH, and MACRA. Essentially, you connect your EHR to the HIE one time and we can direct your data to any destination required at a reasonable fee. Our technology will enable organizations to have the option to participate in our HIE, disease registry, or quality reporting tool.

Navigating MIPS First Year

MIPS is officially here! During this transition year, doctors will have some flexibility in reporting and performance. Meet Dr. Barbara Whitley and find out how she is navigating her first MIPS year.

The Value of Health Information Exchange

The benefits of  of Health Information Exchange are numerous and greatly outweigh the cost of implementation. With HIE, critical health information is readily available whenever and wherever it is needed. Watch this video to learn more about the benefits of  Health Information Exchange.