Back in February at HIMSS, NextGate and Hartford Hospital announced a collaboration to use MatchMetrix in Hartford’s Health Information Exchange (HIE) implementation.  The implementation allows Hartford to improve patient care by uniquely identifying a patient across different visits to different locations in the Hartford healthcare system and beyond.

To share more about the challenge Hartford had and the solution NextGate was able to bring with MatchMetrix, we’ve written a case study that is now available on our Resources page.  Give it a read to learn how MatchMetrix is a cost effective solution for uniquely identifying a patient so that all their data from multiple sites can be accurately associated with them.

To learn more about NextGate can help solve your enterprise master index/EMPI or HIE needs, contact us at info@nextgate.com.

Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE) organizes Connectathons on a regular basis for vendors of healthcare IT to come together to test their products to ensure they are interoperable according to the defined integration profiles.  Back in April, NextGate successfully used MatchMetrix to demonstrate Patient Identifier Cross Reference (PIX) and Patient Demographic Query (PDQ) standard interoperability across all IHE use cases.

This means that healthcare organizations using MatchMetrix can be confident that they can invoke PIX/PDQ as a means to cross-reference patient identifiers between hospitals, care sites, Health Information Exchanges (HIE), and more, as well as query a central patient information server and retrieve a patient’s demographic and visit information.

Once interoperability is demonstrated, an IHE Integration Statement may be published which is available on our IHE Compliance page or directly here.  Additionally, the IHE has created the IHE Product Registry as a way for users to search for products supporting IHE Profiles with published IHE Integration Statements.

We are pleased to announce that MatchMetrix is now in the IHE Product Registry.  There are several ways you can find us there, the easiest being to search on company NextGate, but you can also search on the ATNA, CT, PIX, or PDQ profiles within the IT-infrastructure domain and we show up there too.  Go take a look!

The Indian Health Service (IHS) is in the midst of upgrading their Electronic Health Record (EHR) and related systems to conform to new regulations for meaningful use of EHRs.  Also as noted in that article, they are working to support requirements for health data exchange, including exchange with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) NHIN as well as to support a Master Person Index (MPI).

What is interesting about working with the U.S. Government is that certain contract information is public record, and this RFQ outlines how HHS intends to award a purchase order for MatchMetrix to NextGate to help build their exchange with NHIN and manage the MPI.  From that RFQ:

“Only the brand name specified will meet the Government’s need.  …  HHS intends to purchase a software license from NextGate Solutions to assist in the implementation of the Nationwide Health Information Network (NHIN) and to manage the Master Person Index (MPI) with a browser based interface.  These projects will help IHS modernize and extend electronic health information technology to improve access, quality, safety, and overall health status of American Indians and Alaskan Natives.  The NextGate software license will provide the management tools to help IHS achieve compliance with mandated federal requirements, including the HITECH (Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health) Act, the AHIC-Interoperable Nationwide Health Exchange, the Federal Healthcare Architecture, and the HSPD12-HHS Identity associated with evolving criteria for Meaningful Use Electronic Health Record Certification provisions.”

The RFQ goes on to highlight the reasons for selecting NextGate which include:

• NextGate has adapted a functional core component of NHIN CONNECT.
• IHS has a unique environment and NextGate is already developing the schema for IHS’ MPI project.
• NextGate is already working with IHS on other NHIN and MPI related projects including NHIN Health Information Exchange (HIE) and the Personal Health Record (PHR).
• NextGate has comprehensive knowledge of IHS’s Resource and Patient Management System and has already developed messaging capabilities between it and NHIN, MPI, and IHS’ PHR.

And it was great to see that the contract was officially awarded late last week.

NextGate is excited to be a part of this project that will enable the IHS to deliver improved and more cost effective patient care to their members.

We are excited that many healthcare organizations are taking a focused look into eHealth, interoperability, information exchanges and NHIN. One of the critical components of any eHealth solution is the Master Person Index. The MPI makes it possible to create a single identifier for a patient record. This identifier can then be shared within a facility or across an integrated network, generating numerous clinical and financial benefits.

When investigating an MPI, it is important to distinguish between a generic application and one that is designed specifically to meet the needs of the healthcare environment. At NextGate, we have been designing and implementing MPIs for healthcare since 1994. Our MatchMetrix™ MPI is based on the Mural open source MDM engine, but we have tailored it for healthcare situations. Our changes and enhancements provide for faster implementation timeframes, specialized functions, and real world usability. Here is a brief comparison of MatchMetrix and Mural (the MPI mentioned in the NHIN architecture).