See how the Medical University of South Carolina Established Interfaces to EHR for Improved Workflow and other benefits

1. Case Study
Medical University of
South Carolina
At a Glance Establishes Interfaces to EHR
Organization for Improved Workflow
Medical University of The Medical University of South systems, ADT, radiology, practice
South Carolina Carolina (MUSC) has a busy management, transcription and
Charleston, S.C. integrated delivery system many ancillary tools such as
– 16 sites with many different software cardiac or pulmonary systems.
– 650 physicians applications that generate an
enormous amount of patient “The idea is that everything from
– Nearly 900,000 patient visits data daily. To streamline workflow, these third-party systems must get
per year MUSC established interfaces to into Practice Partner’s electronic
Practice Partner® Patient Records, patient chart so that we do not
Solution Spotlight its electronic health record (EHR) have to rely on paper or manual
– Practice Partner® Patient Records solution from McKesson. As a entry of data,” says Smith. In this
result, MUSC has achieved an all-electronic environment, it is
impressive level of interoperability critical that patient information
Critical Issues between multiple applications and from all the different systems can
– Establishing connectivity Practice Partner Patient Records. easily communicate with the EHR.
and interoperability to the EHR More than 10 interfaces are in
within a very complex place, supporting nearly 900,000 Answers
IT environment patient visits per year. Building the interfaces was a
– Supporting high transaction collaborative effort by MUSC,
volumes through the interfaces Challenges McKesson and individual software
in a mission-critical environment MUSC wanted all software vendors. Using HL7 protocols as
applications generating patient the framework for the interfaces,
Results data to converge into its EHR. MUSC took advantage of an
“Without those interfaces our interface engine (Cloverleaf) to
– Successful deployment of systems couldn’t talk to each help centralize interface efforts to
more than 10 interfaces other,” explains Jim Smith, MUSC’s a single “appliance,” which can
encompassing the full spectrum manager of Ambulatory Care receive inputs from various systems
of clinical and administration Information Systems. However, and deliver data as single feed into
systems achieving interoperability for an Practice Partner Patient Records.
– Effective production support organization the size of MUSC was
of high volume interface a tall order. The ambulatory group Results
environment, exceeding at MUSC treats close to 900,000 MUSC’s efforts paid off. It now
600,000 annual transactions patients per year at 16 different has more than 10 interfaces to
outpatient facilities. MUSC’s Practice Partner Patient Records,
650 physicians work in more than encompassing both administrative
30 specialties. All of them use and clinical functions. Annually,
Practice Partner, as do 800 nursing the system manages more than
staff, 500 residents and numerous 600,000 transactions into and out
administrative, compliance, of Practice Partner Patient Records.
pharmacy, radiology and lab staff.
Systems include lab information The open architecture of Practice
Partner Patient Records has allowed

2. Case Study
“My vision for Practice Partner MUSC to streamline administrative – Interface to LIS transfers data
functions by implementing an: from Palmetto Primary Care, a
was to have it as a one-stop specialty clinic that is one of
shop. The physician accesses – Interface to the hospital’s master MUSC’s business partners
patient index (MPI) and ADT
Practice Partner and is able to system (Keane) — generates – Interface to radiology information
financial and medical record data system allows Practice Partner
do all the business of patient for both inpatient and outpatient Patient Records to download
care without having to stop activity and provides Practice textual radiology results for all
Partner with detailed patient imaging protocols including
and log into other systems. By demographics X-rays, MRIs, CAT scans and
PET scans
and large, we have achieved – Interface to an ambulatory
that vision.” practice management system — – Interface to the AssistMed
includes a registration feed that transcription service allows easy
triggers the creation of a chart downloading of transcribed notes
for new patients and a scheduling directly into Practice Partner
Jim Smith interface that lets clinicians see Patient Records
Manager of Ambulatory Care their patient schedule from
within Practice Partner – Interface to Medflow
Information Systems ophthalmology EMR allows
Other interfaces manage the ophthalmologists’ progress notes
Medical University seamless distribution of clinical to be incorporated into Practice
of South Carolina and laboratory information Partner Patient Records
between systems:
– Interface to Oacis clinical data
– Interface to MUSC’s primary repository receives progress note
hospital laboratory information information from Practice Partner
system (LIS) passes both discreet via an outbound interface
data for specific tests and
text reports for pathology The project was a success. Practice
and microbiology results Partner Patient Records provides
MUSC with a level of application
– Interface to Labdaq accepts interoperability that is crucial to the
data coming from one of hospital’s workflow. “My vision for
MUSC’s 16 sites Practice Partner was to have it as a
one-stop shop,” says Smith. “The
– Interface to Labcorp allows physician accesses Practice Partner
out-of-area patients who have and is able to do all the business of
had transplants or are being patient care without having to stop
treated for cancer to have their and log into other systems. By and
follow-up test results from their large, we have achieved that
local Labcorp facility transferred vision.”
McKesson Provider Technologies
to MUSC
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