InterSystems HealthShare Health Connect Cloud gives medical scale-up company a fast and scalable cloud interoperability capability without a large up-front investment
InterSystems, a creative data technology provider dedicated to helping customers solve the most critical scalability, interoperability and speed problems, today announced that My Emergency Doctor, Australia’s first telemedicine service staffed by specialist emergency doctors, has implemented InterSystems HealthShare® Health Connect Cloud™ to quickly and cost-effectively provide systems interoperability with a major suburban hospital to support a virtual overnight supervision service by facilitating virtual board rounds between emergency department clinicians and emergency specialists (FACEMs) overnight. This initiative aims to improve key performance indicators such as Transfer of Care (ToC) and length of stay.
Purchased as a pay-as-you-grow cloud service, HealthShare Health Connect Cloud will also provide enhanced interoperability for My Emergency Doctor’s other telemedicine services in the future, with InterSystems partner Fluffy Spider Technologies providing ongoing support. This will enable My Emergency Doctor (MED) to serve larger and more sophisticated healthcare providers and further improve clinical productivity and patient experience.
Cloud interoperability implemented within two months
MED aims to transform emergency medicine by bringing the best possible care to patients, wherever they are. The company’s services connect senior specialist emergency doctors – Fellows of the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine (FACEMs) – with clinicians and patients 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The telemedicine services ease the difficulties of emergency presentation surges, staff shortages and after-hours consultations, for example, allowing hospitals to maintain a regular pattern of FACEM-led board rounds in the middle of the night.
MED has used a secure file-sharing service to integrate its electronic medical record (EMR) system with the systems of its clients, typically regional hospitals with 6 to 8-bed emergency departments (EDs). However, supporting a new virtual board round service for a 60-bed ED at a major suburban hospital required a more efficient and streamlined approach. The hospital preferred to interoperate via the commonly used HL7® messaging standard. After signing an agreement with InterSystems, MED implemented an interoperability solution using HealthShare Health Connect Cloud within two months, with future integrations expected to be even faster.
Meeting integration challenges one at a time
“MED is a growing company, and we needed a fast solution to meet our expanding needs,” said Ben Rhodes, Head of Technology at MED. “HealthShare Health Connect Cloud was an ideal choice. It offers a scalable solution with a low barrier to entry, perfectly aligning with our growth trajectory. Initially, the most important benefit was meeting the required timeline by leveraging the hospital’s existing HL7 capability. With HL7 interoperability, we can receive more information more quickly and create a better clinical workflow. If something happens, we get the data immediately, and a nurse doesn’t need to check it. Now that we have completed the first HL7 integration, we can expand it to multiple customers. And we can integrate with FHIR® or use the InterSystems FHIR Server to create a FHIR repository as well.”
“With our cloud interoperability solution, we are delighted to help healthcare providers, medical start-ups and scale-ups like My Emergency Doctor overcome the systems integration barriers to innovative connected care solutions,” said Darren Jones, Country Manager, Australia and New Zealand for InterSystems. “Without making a large up-front investment, MED can quickly and cost-effectively meet its integration challenges one at a time, leveraging the latest interoperability technology and healthcare data standards. MED is also leveraging our partner network and will collaborate with Fluffy Spider Technologies, one of the region’s first InterSystems partners for HealthShare Health Connect Cloud, for ongoing technical support.”
About My Emergency Doctor
My Emergency Doctor (MED) is a cohesive and coordinated clinically-led telemedicine service committed to quality care. Established in 2016, MED has consistently focused on providing access to emergency specialists through strategic partnerships with hospitals, ambulance services, primary health networks and aged care facilities. This ensures Australians can access senior emergency physicians round the clock, on-demand. Building on this foundation, MED now provides an expanded range of services, including access to mental health professionals, cardiologists, and soon, geriatricians, ensuring comprehensive and timely care for those in need. For more information, please visit MyEmergencyDr.com.
