Published: 10/2/2020 –
HIEs and HINs across the U.S. have been supporting healthcare providers in their response to the on-going COVID-19 Pandemic. MiHIN maintains real-time COVID results delivery to the Michigan Disease Surveillance System (MDSS) as well as to health departments, payers, and clinicians across the state, leveraging their core use cases.
EARLY RESPONSE FOR DETROIT
In early March, at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, MiHIN put its expertise to work in Metro Detroit to spin up a data tracking operation for the drive-by COVID-19 testing facility located at the former Michigan Fairgrounds.
Using MiHIN’s health information exchange technology, physician orders for patients requiring COVID-19 testing were sent electronically, notifying clinical support staff at the fairgrounds of the expected volume and specific patients they could expect each day. Upon arrival at the testing center, a greeter accessed the patient’s electronic health record to confirm their test order. The prescribing physician was also notified that their patient had checked in and was tested. Lab orders and test swabs for each patient were tracked electronically, and the results were provided seamlessly to the clinician and the Detroit Health Department. Within two weeks, this system handled the testing of nearly 4,000 individuals, many of them healthcare professionals, efficiently meeting all federal and state patient security requirements.
STATEWIDE DATA REPORTING
Working with MDHHS, MiHIN is developing an Admission, Discharge, Transfer (ADT) “Data Mart” for longitudinal reporting on COVID-19 hospital visits statewide. This multi-conditional data structure allows for unique patient identification and can follow a patient throughout his or her entire encounter. It also provides visibility into hospital bed capacity, patient demographic information and comorbidities, and breakouts by facility or patient location.
PATIENT NOTIFICATION
MiHIN continues to onboard new hospitals and commercial labs to import their information, as well as provide access to this COVID-19 related testing data. In addition, MiHIN is also working with Wayne and Kent Counties to route targeted COVID data to the county health departments and to ensure identified patients are notified of their results.
HIEs serve as key infrastructure—especially during times of crisis. MiHIN’s shared services are solutions that improve processes, create standards, and reduce burdens. Learn more about how your organization can join and contribute here.