|
Like many of you, I have spent the last several weeks graduating, moving across the country, and preparing myself to take on a new position. Between my own PCS and everyone's preoccupation with COVID, I decided to temporarily suspend new informatics/GENESIS information over the summer. But now that MHS GENESIS has been greenlit to resume operations – it seems like the perfect time to jump back into TECH TUESDAYS!
Like myself, many of you have moved locations. Almost everyone has new people that have come to your location. And with new people in the mix, there is opportunity to get a new perspective. Its an opportunity to start to RECONCILE the old with the new. Fortunately, MHS GENESIS gives us a great new way to reconcile outside records! (held on to that segue all summer)
Why bother?
In an ideal world we all have one single record for our patient that contains all of their pertinent information. At some point we can talk about the potential value of a Patient Health Record (PHR), but until then multiple pieces of information must be consolidated to formulate one single source of truth. This single consolidated record is the only way the medical community has any hope of optimizing care outcomes and eliminating harm. You may have heard about our many partners that are participating in Health Information Exchanges (HIE). But how does information from these partners become available for us?
Purple Diamonds?
In GENESIS, outside records that are available for reconciliation are denoted by purple diamonds. These are available from any HIE that uses the Clinical Document Architecture (CDA) for data transmission. Problems, Allergies, Medications, Procedures and Immunizations (so called “PAMPI” data) are all available to be reconciled.
How's it work?
When prompted by the purple diamond (1), the user can “import” or “reconcile” (depending on the component) outside records directly from their workflow (2). Using “Home Medications” component as a prototype (all of them function slightly differently because of the data you are reconciling) you can see how easy it is to have GENESIS search the CDAs and return additions right in your workflow (3). For this patient it found Azithromycin and Ondansetron. You could easily add or discard recommendations (4) or if adding additional changes could be made prior to approving and adding the medication (5).
No, I mean ’t How's it work…for real?
Actually, it works just like that. It is fairly easy and in general is a fast and efficient way to reconcile PAMPI Data.
Really?
It is not perfect. First, the ability is currently limited to clinicians – although will likely expand to additional approved staff. Second, the first time you do this it can be a little cumbersome. There can be a lot of data to reconcile at the first appointment. However, my experience has been that it is (generally) still a pretty quick process – although it can be intimidating at first. Last, the procedures data needs refinement. This isn’t necessarily a GENESIS only issue, rather a limitation of the CDA/HIE process in its current state. It returns too many “procedures” that aren’t really procedures.
Next Steps?
Like so many things in GENESIS, this process will need champions that see the value in having correct and up to date information on their patients. It does take some time and effort, but the resultant long-term return on investment for the patients is huge. The DHA team really delivered a necessary and long requested tool to optimize the care of our patients but it is a new part of workflow
Next Week: Let’s talk hardware.
Practical Guidance: How is your ISC functioning? If your answer is (a) Not well, (b) I’m not sure, (c) we haven’t started yet, or (d) What’s an ISC – please see week 3’s material on the ISC. I STRONGLY recommend you start your ISC now. There are plenty of things than an informatics steering committee can do, but more importantly establishing the communication and collaboration NOW will pay huge dividends when the time comes for GENESIS. |
