The second data exchange connection in the U.S. aims to improve care for Medicaid patients
Jackson, Miss. (November 14, 2017) – The Mississippi Division of Medicaid (DOM) has worked with Hattiesburg Clinic to establish an automated system for sharing clinical data in real time, equipping clinicians with enhanced medical-history information about their Medicaid patients within seconds.
On Aug. 1, DOM successfully linked its beneficiary data-analysis system, MedeAnalytics, with Hattiesburg Clinic’s electronic health record (EHR). MedeAnalytics established DOM’s Medicaid Enterprise Master Patient Index (EMPI) back in 2014 as the core identity management system to allow easy management of a Medicaid patient’s longitudinal record. From there, they worked with DOM to standardize the Medicaid clinical EMPI to support a clinical data interface with its external stakeholders.
So far, both DOM and Hattiesburg have shared clinical information on 20,000 individual Medicaid patients, or 100,000 total shared clinical reports. Mississippi is the first state in the nation to establish this method for leveraging Medicaid technology and resources to directly benefit the doctor/patient experience.
Hattiesburg Clinic is the second such clinical exchange and the second largest provider of Mississippi Medicaid beneficiaries. DOM built its first connection with the largest provider, the University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC), in early 2016.
“This system is providing the Mississippi Division of Medicaid the opportunity to help improve the doctor/patient experience more cost effectively,” according to Dr. David J. Dzielak, executive director of DOM. “Sharing resources where we can is one way a state agency like Medicaid can make a significant impact. And exchanging data with providers through this system is one small way Medicaid can help.”
“Hattiesburg Clinic’s priority is our patients and the quality and efficiency of care they receive at all of our locations. A major goal for us over recent years has been improving how we utilize our EHR, including establishing a more paperless workflow with our Epic system that provides more thorough patient care through information technology,” said Tommy Thornton, Hattiesburg clinic executive director.
“This partnership with Medicaid is a valuable step in that ongoing effort, as it has enabled us to get a comprehensive picture of the patient’s health and improves efficiencies for our providers,” Thornton continued. “We are very pleased with what we are able to accomplish on behalf of our patients through this program with Medicaid.”
This approach, known as the Clinical Data Interoperability Program, provides two-way communication between DOM’s database and the provider. The concept is simple: DOM has an electronic system for storing and managing its beneficiary records, and this database includes up-to-date information such as a beneficiary’s prescribed medications, allergies and other historical details. MedeAnalytics and DXC Technology (NYSE: DXC) — the world’s leading independent, end-to-end IT services company — built a platform to enable DOM to communicate with Hattiesburg’s EHR. DXC’s services-enabled OXi Platform utilizes industry standard technologies and connections such as HL7 and RESTful web services to quickly and easily connect new stakeholders in support of DOM’s goal to collect, aggregate and share Medicaid clinical data to improve Medicaid beneficiary care and overall program management.
“DOM is a model example for Medicaid interoperability and how other agencies across the nation can leverage data to improve beneficiary care,” said Paul Kaiser, chief executive officer of MedeAnalytics. “MedeAnalytics has powered the Division’s first major provider data connection since 2016 and we look forward to continually supporting their efforts to expand connectivity with other providers across the state of Mississippi.”
“DXC is pleased to have the opportunity to collaborate with the Mississippi Division of Medicaid (DOM) to deliver a platform that facilitates DOM’s connectivity and interoperability to providers, outside agencies, stakeholders, other States, and federal agencies,” said Susan Arthur, vice president and general manager, Health & Life Sciences, DXC Technology.
After connectivity is established, everything is automated. When a patient schedules an appointment with the clinic or is admitted to the hospital, the EHR queries DOM if it has patient information. If the patient is a current or former beneficiary, within seconds the system will send a clinical summary to the EHR. When the patient’s treatment is completed and the individual is discharged, the EHR sends an updated summary back to DOM. If there are a number of different tests or procedures performed, DOM will receive those updates.
“The bottom line is, more than 100,000 clinical summaries have already been exchanged between DOM and Hattiesburg Clinic,” Dzielak said, “and that has provided the opportunity for 20,000 Medicaid beneficiaries to have an interaction with their clinician where that clinician has data that they wouldn’t otherwise have had to better serve the patient. We can provide that additional value to the provider, and then the aggregate data provides insights into health trends in the state.”
With the infrastructure now in place, Dzielak anticipates additional connections in the future. In late August, a third connection was established with Singing River Health System, and a fourth is underway.
