Message from
Senior Management

Interoperability
Fact or Fiction?
 

Ken Hoffman
Vice President
Interface/Integration
 

New Security
Website
Launched

Net.Orange
Partnership

Interoperability - Fact or Fiction

Ken Hoffman, Vice President - Interface/Integration

The big hype and buzz word in the healthcare industry is interoperability.  We’ve all heard it and to some extent understand this nebulous, catch all magical term.  As a leader in the healthcare integration industry, Iatric Systems is a member of leading “standards” organizations like HL7 and IHE.  We’re also working with customers to achieve CCHIT certification.  I’m often asked, “What is Iatric Systems doing in regard to inter-
operability?”  Well I’m glad you ask because we’ve been working hard on interoperability in many directions based on the “standards” you or your vendors want to apply. 

We’re involved in delivering XML based clinical information via Continuity of Care Document (CCD), Continuity of Care Record (CCR) and Clinical Document Architecture (CDA) standard specifications.  Have you heard the words LONIC, SNOMED, or RXNORM?  Welcome to the world of codified system standards - we’re involved in them all.  How about HL7 version 3?  Or the move to Service Oriented Architecture (SOA)?   Yep, that’s us also.  

Many of you have attended HIMSS and possibly stopped by the Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE) interoperability showcase to learn more about “interoperability” initiatives and standards.   It was a very valuable and informative session.  But what about standards?  Are there really any?  Over my 16 years of being involved in integration I can whole heartedly say, yes many of them.  Health Level 7 (HL7) is by far the most widely deployed standard in the healthcare industry, next to DICOMM and ANSI X.12. 

I assure you Iatric Systems is in the forefront of meeting the leading standards deployed in the industry.  As I wrote this I was at the Microsoft Health User Group in Redmond, WA speaking on Patient Privacy and learning all I could about the new innovations and directions of technology in healthcare.  Business Analytics, Personal Health Records (PHR) and Healthcare Information Exchange (HIE) are some of the major initiatives being discussed.  Iatric Systems is ready to meet all your meaningful use interface, integration, and interoperability needs from MAGIC to FOCUS 6.0.  If you have any questions please feel free to set up a call with me so we can discuss them. 

We’re discussing two important healthcare IT topics.  We’ll start the blog conversations but it’s really about hearing from YOU.  Information sharing that helps us all work more effectively is what this is all about, so check out our two new blogs and take part in the discussions!

On FOCUS
This blog encourages discussion around the challenges you face in determining how or if MEDITECH’s migration to the next HCIS impacts you. Each hospital has unique circumstances and we’ll examine the role current and future applications play in your decisions.  focusblog.iatric.com

Patient Privacy Matters
Ensuring patient privacy is a front and center priority for your hospital or healthcare system.  Reporting internal security breaches is now mandated; but what if you could stop breaches before they ever happen?  We’ll dive into the issues and explore how you can reduce your risk. securityblog.iatric.com

For more information, please contact us at info@iatric.com.
 

*Iatric Systems does not endorse one vendor partner over another. This article is included for information purposes only and the opinions expressed are not necessarily those of Iatric Systems. 

Kay Jackson, Marketing Manager - Financial

Report Writer 101 - Loading a list into a / structure for record selection (C/S or MAGIC)

When you use an LI selection operator, the report writer loops thru the values entered into the list by the user and uses those values to select records.  If the field is the subscript of the index file or of the detail segment, the report will loop on the list entered to efficiently select records.

You may not know that you can also build your own list in slash (/ = the temp file) and have the report loop on the list you build.  This can allow you to do the following:

1)  "Hardcode" a list of values which are subscripts of your index file and get the report to use your list against the index, preserving report efficiency.

2) Combine multiple indexes in one report.

3) Use an index from a different application to select your records.

4) Create a revisit report that easily presents the information from the "revisit" and the "prior visit."

Example 1:  Hardcode a list of values which are indexed.

Consider a report from Abstracting on surgical procedures that can be done on either IN or SDC patients.  You have an index (ABS.PAT.dis.date.x) that indexes by pt.status (CLI, ER, IN, INO, RCR, REF, SDC) and then discharge date.

You might write the report like this:

The problem with this approach is that the "OR" on the pt.status field (the first subscript of the report index file dis.date.x) will cause the report to stop using the index for selection on that subscript.

Here is the object code, showing that the report will loop on all values of pt.status, and all patients for the dis.date range selected, and then check the status to see if it is IN or SDC.  Looping on the CLI, ER, INO, RCR, and REF accounts for the dis.date range and then checking their status is a waste of time, but the report translator is not smart enough to realize this.

In the code above, the translator creates code to check the pt.status field against "IN" and puts the result into the variable C1, then checks the pt.status against "SDC" and puts the result in C2.  Unfortunately, the "select relationship" expression is not evaluated until all the looping on index files is done.

If we change the selection screen to this:

And load a list in a "start" macro:

And then hook up the "start" macro with a footnote:

We get a much more efficient loop only on the pt.status values that we have loaded into our /XXX structure.

If you have just a few values to put in your list, you can write the code in the footnote line instead of calling a macro:

Example 2, combining multiple indexes in one report, was the topic of the Updates! tip in November 2004: http://www.iatric.com/_docs/updates-nov2004.pdf

Example 3, using an index from another application, was the topic of the Updates! tip in June 2002.

http://www.iatric.com/_docs/updates-jun2002.pdf (use ADM room bed index in PHA and NUR reports).

Example 4, revisit report that shows new and prior visit, was the topic of the Updates! tip in December 2005.

http://www.iatric.com/_docs/updates-dec2005.pdf

You can find additional NPR Tips on our website at http://www.iatric.com/information/npr-tips.asp, as well as information about our on-site NPR Report Writer Training and NPR Report Writing Services.

Follow us on:

Upcoming Events:

Mighty MUSE Newport
Newport ,RI
October 26-28, 2009


2009 HIMSS Midwest Fall
Technology Conference
Grand Rapids, MI
November 2-3, 2009
 

Sign up for our Updates! newsletter, or do so by visiting the lower section of our website's homepage.

You can unsubscribe from this newsletter using the SafeUnsubscribe link at the bottom of this email or by sending us a request at info@iatric.com.

If you received this newsletter via email, you may give us feedback by simply replying to the email.  However, if you would like to reach someone directly, please feel free to contact one of the individuals listed below.

Joel Berman, President, Joel.Berman@iatric.com, 978-805-4101
John Danahey, VP, Sales & Marketing, John.Danahey@iatric.com, 978-805-4153

27 Great Pond Drive, Boxford, MA  01921, USA

Copyright 1996-2009 Iatric Systems, Inc.  -All Rights Reserved-