Montana has launched a pilot program that facilitates data sharing to detect outbreaks associated with bioterrorism.
San Diego-based Crossflo Systems, Inc., will provide the state with its DataExchange Server software, which runs on HP Integrity NonStop systems.
Crossflo worked with HP to implement an initial data sharing environment among the National Center for Health Care Informatics (NCHCI) and four Montana hospitals. Using a data sharing model based on the National Information Exchange Model, anonymous data was mapped from the four hospitals to a target system to enable data exchange between the systems.
"Healthcare organizations want to improve the quality of care by reducing response times to public health emergencies at the same time they lower cost," said Winston Prather, vice president of HP's NonStop Enterprise Division. "The Health Information Exchange solution, created from the combination of HP Integrity NonStop systems and Crossflo DataExchange Server software, enables secure, real-time sharing of patient health records and disease monitoring data between health facilities."
The project demonstrated the ability to rapidly develop and deploy health information for the purpose of detecting naturally occurring or bioterrorists' pathogens in their pre-epidemic phases (syndromic surveillance).
The data sharing program provides a platform from which to build future capabilities, including the ability to securely move patients' medical records to the point of care.
"The success of this pilot provides the foundation for future expansion that may include additional hospital and public health facilities as well as further functionality," said Raymond F. Rogers, NCHCI's chief executive officer. "We are proud to have been the catalyst to combine the expertise and the robust solutions of Crossflo and HP to meet these information sharing challenges."
