Geisinger, xG Health Solutions™ to advance open health care application ecosystem

DANVILLE, Pa., Nov. 4, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Geisinger Health System and xG Health Solutions announced today they have connected a software app developed by Geisinger to an Electronic Health Record (EHR) by leveraging new draft international standards. The Geisinger-invented Rheumatology app was initially developed to interact with the Epic Corporation EHR used by Geisinger. Now, by using new international draft standards, Geisinger and xG Health Solutions have successfully exchanged clinical data in real-time within the Cerner Corporation EHR framework.

Geisinger and xG Health Solutions anticipate enabling apps to work in a similar fashion with all EHRs that want to leverage Geisinger-developed apps. This new "app approach" to augmenting EHR functionality has the potential to transform the delivery of health care by giving providers access to analyses of information that resides outside and/or inside the EHR, as well as decision support, regardless of the underlying EHR platform. Geisinger expects to make apps like these available to other health care systems through xG Health Solutions, a company founded by Geisinger in 2013 to commercialize Geisinger innovations.

Geisinger and xG Health Solutions used an approach developed with support from a Department of Health and Human Services Office of the National Coordinator's Strategic Healthcare IT Advanced Research Projects (SHARPn) grant, specifically the open-source Substitutable Medical Apps, Reusable Technologies (SMArt) Platform. This web-based interoperable container and the corresponding HL-7 Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) interface can exchange information in real-time with any SMArt-on-FHIR-enabled EHR.

"Over the past 18 years, Geisinger has programmed a broad spectrum of work flow facilitation and clinical decision support into our electronic health record and into software applications that operate outside of our EHR, but communicate with it," said Geisinger Health System President and Chief Executive Officer Glenn Steele, Jr., M.D. "Until now, Geisinger EHR-related innovations that improve quality, increase efficiency and reduce the cost of care have not been available to other health care delivery systems. This pilot program shows there is now a way to do that."

This app-based approach extracts data from an EHR and presents information in user-friendly views to clinicians together with clinical decision support. This method will enable innovative types of work flow facilitation and clinical decision support to operate on top of any SMArt-on-FHIR-enabled EHR to improve the quality, efficiency and cost-effectiveness of health care. Other approaches for accomplishing the same objective may be developed in the future.

About Geisinger
Geisinger Health System is an integrated health services organization widely recognized for its innovative use of the electronic health record, and the development of innovative care models such as ProvenHealth Navigator® and ProvenCare®. As one of the nation's largest rural health services organizations, Geisinger serves more than 3 million residents throughout 48 counties in central, south-central and northeast Pennsylvania. The physician-led system is comprised of approximately 23,500 employees, including a 1,200-member multi-specialty group practice, nine hospital campuses, two research centers and a 467,000-member health plan, all of which leverage an estimated $7.7 billion positive impact on the Pennsylvania economy. The health system and the health plan have repeatedly garnered national accolades for integration, quality and service. In addition to fulfilling its patient care mission, Geisinger has a long-standing commitment to medical education, research and community service. For more information, visit www.geisinger.org, or follow the latest Geisinger news and more on Twitter and Facebook.

About xG Health Solutions
xG Health Solutions' mission is to help health systems and others committed to high quality, value-based care succeed under risk-based payment arrangements. Our population health management solutions are powered by Geisinger Health System's methods that have been proven to achieve best-in-class outcomes. xG Health is the primary provider of Geisinger's Health Care performance improvement Intellectual Property (IP). xG Health provides experienced professionals to partner in developing and implementing strategies focused on improving quality and reducing costs of care over the long haul. For more information, visit www.xghealth.com, or follow the latest xG Health news and more on LinkedIn or Twitter.

CONTACT:
Geisinger:
Wendy Wilson: 570-703-7807
[email protected]

xG Health Solutions:
Tatiana Nikitina: 443-203-1079
[email protected]

SOURCE Geisinger Health System; xG Health Solutions

Related Links

http://www.geisinger.org