Our client, one of the largest publicly traded hospital networks in the United States, faced operational challenges in managing their emergency room (ER) operations, including fragmented data systems, difficulties in promptly identifying patients, and inefficiencies during patient transitions from ER to inpatient care. These challenges negatively impacted decision-making capabilities, slowed operational workflows, and ultimately affected patient care quality and resource allocation. 

Internally, the hospital sought to modernize its systems to better leverage data-driven insights, aiming to improve real-time patient management and operational efficiency. Recognizing these specific needs, they partnered with Emids to develop a targeted solution integrating advanced AI and cloud technologies. 

Solution 

In collaboration with Google Cloud and UnityAI, Emids developed a proof of concept (PoC) specifically designed to address emergency room management needs. The solution focused on enhancing patient identification accuracy and improving the operational transitions between ER and inpatient care, powered by generative AI (GenAI) to quickly and accurately process patient data. 

To provide actionable, real-time insights, the solution leveraged Google’s Cloud Health Data Engine (HDE), incorporating pre-General Availability (GA) GCP features for advanced analytics and improved system responsiveness. A Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) store was also integrated with Google’s BigQuery, facilitating seamless data interoperability and supporting robust analytics capabilities. 

Additionally, a secure real-time data streaming pipeline was constructed using GCP tools such as PubSub and DataFlow, allowing for efficient data processing and transfer. Lastly, an HL7 MLLP adaptor was implemented to ensure effective integration of the new AI-enabled system with existing hospital technologies. 

Outcomes 

Following the solution’s deployment, the hospital’s emergency room operations saw substantial improvements. Healthcare providers gained immediate access to accurate, AI-driven insights, significantly enhancing the speed and accuracy of patient identification and ER management. This directly supported smoother patient transitions from the ER to inpatient care. 

Additionally, increased data transparency allowed healthcare professionals and hospital administrators to make more informed, timely decisions. This led to measurable improvements in patient outcomes and operational performance. 

Operationally, the hospital experienced improved efficiency, demonstrated by streamlined workflows and optimized resource allocation. Reduced ER wait times and better management of care pathways resulted in tangible improvement in both patient satisfaction and clinical outcomes. 

This initiative provided a robust foundation to scale future AI-driven initiatives, ensuring the hospital remains equipped to adapt effectively to future healthcare technology advancements. 

Challenge 

Our client, a distinguished national medical group, delivers personalized primary care at home to those confronting various health challenges. Operating under a value-based model, their services are rendered in unconventional care settings, focusing on client engagement, integrated systems and care documentation to realize revenue. 

The client wanted to implement an enterprise operating clinical technology solution to fortify their distinctive business model. To ensure their future success, it was pivotal for them to foster customer engagement, secure payer approvals for member services, meet contractual requirements for Quality Assurance in documentation and coding, and meticulously document care for precise coding and revenue realization, all within a framework of integrated systems. 

Emids was brought on board by the client to validate the system choices crucial for supporting their business model and addressing the various functionality assessment related to their CRM, Scheduling, Coding, and Revenue Cycle Management.  

Solution

Emids initiated a rigorous fitness examination to clarify the client’s business model, document and facilitate a deeper examination and validation of the functionalities in accordance with their business needs. The solution involved a collaborative exploration to understand the complexities of the client’s unique care model and to refine the business model through in-depth workflow mapping leveraging a digital visual collaboration platform.   

We also created significant value for the client by discerning the need for a coding system tailored to support the specific business requirements of their payer customers. We recommended a solution that could plug those gaps seamlessly, streamline their Document QA and Coding QA processes in accordance with the payer guidelines.  

Our assessment concluded that their existing platform worked for their EMR solution but did not cater to patient engagement, scheduling, billing and coding requirements of their business operations. We also evaluated various other vendor platforms and did their cost and functionality analysis. Accordingly, we recommended to the client an enterprise operating platform that was best suited to their business model and which included and supported integration of CRM, Scheduling application and Billing & Coding solutions along with EMR.  

Emids also developed a unique patient journey map to help the client plug gaps in the patient delivery lifecycle and lay a foundation for effective patient engagement. We provided recommendations offering a detailed perspective on the requisite technology to bolster integration of sales enablement, CRM, documentation, and RCM.  

Outcome

This collaboration and the subsequent solutions facilitated the client in authenticating the digital fitness of their operational technology, systems, and processes against the aspired business model. 

The approach yielded in decoding incompatibilities in the functionalities of their operating technology in alignment with their distinctive care model. The insights from our findings empowered the client to optimize their workflow and processes and select the right technologies to support and address the specialized needs and complexities of delivering home-based care. The client was successfully able to validate their system choices and confirm their capability to effectively support the business model and operational needs, ultimately leading to improved patient care outcomes. 

By identifying the need for a specialized coding system and recommending a suitable solution, the client was positioned to align better with the specific business requirements of their payer customers. Not only this enabled the client to streamline their processes but also mitigated compliance risks, ensuring adherence to payer guidelines. This shows how Emids’ proactively understood the client’s needs and created value with potential enhancements in their overall efficiency and compliance for improved satisfaction and trust among their payer stakeholder group. 

This demonstrates Emids consulting expertise in creating a unique patient transformative journey map with tailored technical solutions to enhance the business model and services of the client. Thus, setting a robust foundation for a personalized home care experience. 

Challenge

Our client, one of the leading Medical Centers in Tennessee, has a wide network of hospitals as well as clinics and facilities throughout the state. During and after the pandemic there was a significant turnover of their front-office staff, and the Medical Center was dealing with a staggering backlog of thousands of documents inaccurately linked to patient records. 

In addition to this, there was a surge in the utilization of Epic MyChart Proxy Access requests and telehealth services from their customers seeking access to their family’s/patient’s medical records at the Medical Center. This resulted in a high volume of daily requests for Epic MyChart Proxy access across various patient categories.  

With limited trained staff available to handle these requests and emerging escalated internal costs the client recognized the need for an agile and sustainable solution.  

They contracted with Emids for 1) a one-time clean-up of their Epic HIM Work Queue and 2) outsourcing of their Epic MyChart Proxy Service on an ongoing basis.  

Solution

Emids delivered a robust and cost-efficient solution to address the client’s challenges during and after the pandemic. By deploying a highly skilled team of Epic specialists Emids was able to optimize and streamline the Epic Work Queue Management for HIM and MyChart Proxy Services. We enabled efficient processing of a huge backlog of documents and integration of the correct patient’s medical records ensuring patient data accuracy.  

Post the pandemic, Emids took ongoing charge of the Epic MyChart Proxy Work Queue with the aim to enhance operational efficiency and maximize productivity, while adhering to client’s internal compliance and guidelines. We provided an on-demand flexible and scalable service tailored to cater to their unique requirements to optimize resource utilization while reducing costs and expediting the workflow. 

Outcomes

The partnership successfully eliminated the Epic HIM Work Queue Backlog of incorrect documents mapped to the wrong patients as well as the Epic MyChart Proxy Work Queue backlog of access requests that had been affecting the Medical Center’s operations and patient satisfaction. This collaboration optimized patient safety by ensuring precise and timely record management. Emids’ team proficiently managed the daily influx of requests, resulting in significant reductions in the customers resources man-hours. This enabled the client to redirect their higher costs Epic staff towards more strategic initiatives, ultimately resulting in significant cost savings for them. 

Emids adeptly adjusted and flexed the team size to address sudden spikes in demand, delivering not only improved turnaround times but also enhanced customer satisfaction. With the challenge of time-consuming Epic Work Queue management alleviated, the client’s staff members experienced increased job satisfaction, which contributed to improving their employee retention rate. 

Emids partnered with the client, functioning as an extension of their in-house team, significantly boosting productivity and effectively addressing business challenges. This successful partnership highlights Emids’ expertise, dedication, and agility, ultimately enhancing patient experiences and customer care. 

Challenge  

Diagnosing and treating rare diseases is a complex task that often presents barriers. The MYO-MRI consortium, a dedicated group of healthcare professionals focused on rare conditions, was limited by an outdated method of sharing crucial patient images and data. In 2019, vital images were still being transported physically on CDs, causing substantial delays and potential risks to patient data. 

Moreover, the lack of a unified platform combining genetic diagnosis, imaging pathology and muscle MRI images added to the challenge. This technology gap wasn’t exclusive to neuromuscular diseases but extended to many other disorders as well. 

Solution  

Emids, a trailblazer in healthcare technology solutions, collaborated with the Ottawa Hospital and the MYO-MRI consortium to create MYO-SHARE, a novel, cloud-based platform. This platform facilitates more efficient collaboration among clinicians working on rare diseases. Utilizing the robust framework of Emids’ HealthConnect platform and hosted on Azure, MYO-SHARE was designed using existing backend components, enabling fast deployment of this transformative tool. 

MYO-SHARE offers a secure platform for storing and reviewing patient images, with utmost respect for ethical laws and patient confidentiality. It also simplifies the sharing of intricate patient images with colleagues across the globe. In addition, MYO-SHARE has the unique capability of integrating genetic diagnosis, imaging pathology and muscle MRI images. 

Built-in data security and user management layers in the Emids HealthConnect platform ensure that MYO-SHARE is secure. By using previously tested and deployed components, the platform is not only reliable but efficient. 

Results  

MYO-SHARE’s successful implementation has significantly improved physicians and scientists’ ability to diagnose and assess the impact of therapeutic trials for patients with rare diseases. Its secure and user-friendly interface allows healthcare professionals to collaborate seamlessly, sharing complex patient images in real-time. 

The cloud-based platform not only speeds up the diagnostic process but also enhances patient outcomes. MYO-SHARE’s transformative role also extends to other diseases, showcasing its wider applicability. 

The joint efforts of the Ottawa Hospital, the MYO-MRI consortium and Emids have resulted in MYO-SHARE becoming a groundbreaking tool for the diagnosis and treatment of rare diseases globally. This is a testament to Emids’ commitment to leveraging existing and emerging technologies to make a meaningful impact on healthcare. 

Challenge

Over the past two decades, the number of data points per patient has increased exponentially, with a thousand more images per patient being produced today compared to the turn of the millennium. This surge in data has created a significant challenge for radiologists who are struggling to keep up with the volume of examinations. The ability to effectively diagnose and monitor diseases through X-rays was becoming increasingly difficult due to the sheer volume of data. Emids was approached to find a way to manage this data effectively and efficiently without compromising on the quality of patient care.

Solution

In response to this challenge, a collaborative project was launched with Emids (formerly Macadamian), Radiobotics, and Bispebjerg Hospital in Copenhagen. The project, known as X-AID, aimed to streamline the workflow of processing X-rays, particularly for non-acute patients. The solution involved the integration of an AI algorithm into the workflow to provide an automated assessment of musculoskeletal X-rays.

The AI technology was trained on unlabeled data from experts within the field to predict unseen instances. This allowed for the automation of text reports, making the report creation process faster and enhancing the quality by identifying things that might have been missed by human radiologists.

The project leveraged Emids’ HealthConnect platform-as-a-service, to accelerate the development and integration of this AI algorithm into clinical workflows. Once commercialized, the solution could be scaled up at other hospitals using the existing integration tools built into HealthConnect.

Results

The implementation of the AI solution led to significant improvements in the diagnostic quality of reading X-rays. It reduced the variation between different radiologists’ interpretations, leading to a more uniform description of the diseases that the machine learning algorithms were trained to find.

This innovative solution demonstrated the power of collaboration, bringing together the clinical and domain expertise of the team at Bispebjerg Hospital, the specialists in machine learning and AI algorithm development at Radiobotics, and Emids’ domain expertise in the healthcare space.

By leveraging the strengths of these three organizations, the project was able to tackle a significant challenge in healthcare, driving a higher likelihood of success and demonstrating the potential for innovation in the field.

Challenge

One of Canada’s leading mental health care facilities was facing significant difficulties in delivering necessary care to their patients with mental-health illness and addiction during the COVID-19 pandemic. With the limitations imposed by the pandemic, in-person access to medical care was restricted, and the opioid-overdose rate surged. To continue providing quality care, the facility required an innovative solution that could provide remote care services to their patients.

Solution

Emids was engaged to develop a digital platform that could effectively facilitate remote care delivery. Leveraging the facility’s existing Rapid Access Addiction Medicine (RAAM) Clinic, Emids applied its design-led engineering and user experience design knowledge to digitize the facility’s workflows, resulting in a seamless ‘digital front door‘ experience. This allowed patients to access the same care services via the internet on both desktop and mobile devices.

Emids’ HealthConnect and InQ technologies were integral to the development of the digital front door and workflow experience. This digital platform expedited the care delivery process through online meeting tools, minimized the need for extensive IT support, and simplified system integration.

Patients could log in to the RAAM Clinic from a device with internet connectivity and a camera, answer a few preliminary questions, provide insurance information, and then connect with a clinician for personalized assessment. Moreover, this solution enabled patients to interact with various care team members, such as addiction counselors, social workers, nurses, and physicians, while also allowing additional support members like friends and family to attend the sessions.

Results

The digital solution increased the facility’s regional reach by 20 percent, extending care to underserved and remote communities. It improved the access to team-based, personalized care, with patients being triaged within three minutes and meeting their first clinician within nine minutes of entering the digital front door.

The solution had a positive impact on the facility’s performance metrics, thus aiding its continuous improvement efforts. The facility successfully transitioned from in-person care to digital care, with the digital solution receiving high praise from the facility and patients alike. A satisfaction rate of nearly 96 percent was recorded among patients, and 100 percent of the clinic staff agreed that the digital solution increased their capacity to see clients and maintain the standards of care. Patient feedback underscored the solution’s success, with one patient wishing more healthcare services were set up in a similar manner, and another expressing surprise at how quick and easy the online service was.

Overview

The client is one of the nation’s leading operators of general acute care hospitals. The organization’s affiliates own, operate or lease 84 hospitals in 16 states with approximately 13,000 licensed beds.

As part of a multi-year partnership, we develop and support HL7 interfaces to expedite a Promoting Interoperability Program for clinical data exchange. This program prevents delays in execution by EMR vendors to provide Public Health Reporting (PHR) services due to a lack of PHR expertise and inability to accommodate frequent changes in the regulations.

Results

Our team performed interfaces development for 6 programs supported under MU3  – Syndromic Surveillance, Immunization Registry, Immunization Query, Electronic Laboratory Reporting, National Hospital Care Survey. We successfully helped the client meet state-specific deadlines for COVID-19 case reporting and managed frequent changes in data specifications by the DOH.

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Leveraging the AWS Cloud platform to help leading medical organization accelerate growth and cut operational costs costs

Overview

The Emids client is a leading national medical group with more than $5 billion in revenue. The group provides physician-led services, ambulatory surgery center management, post-acute care and medical transportation among other services. The client encounters more than 30 million patients annually across the U.S.

But the client faced several data challenges impeding its long-term growth.

The group’s clinical data exchange had more than 1,100 point-to-point connections to support data acquisition and had more than 600 sites reporting Medicare-Access-and-CHIP-Reauthorization-Act/Merit-based-Incentive-Payment-System data via a paper-based abstraction process. Additionally, the client was losing revenue from delayed billing caused by incomplete data as well as minimal to no internal checkpoints on data feeds.

Emids Solution

That’s where Emids was brought on to serve as a strategic data partner.

Our team adopted a consulting-led approach to identify key stakeholders, conduct interviews, understand the state of data acquisition & ingestion, clinical flows, technology and integration tools. We carried out a detailed assessment of Health Information Exchanges (HIE), Epic App Orchid, Cerner Hub and other data sources as identified by the client.

The solution was built on the AWS cloud platform leveraging S3 for storage, RedShift for data warehousing, Athena for interactive analytics and a host of other AWS services like Lamda, Glue, and Kinesis data streams.

Results

Emids became the client’s strategic data partner for more than two years, resulting in scalable FHIR-based solutions hosted on the AWS platform. This reduced effort and increased savings on operational costs.

emids delivered a GUI-based ETL middleware tool which leveraged Microsoft SQLServer, Snaplogic and a .Net interface. 

Overview

One of the main reasons many organizations, especially at the enterprise level, continue to use older or legacy systems is the challenge of updating all of the “jobs” or interfaces which move data into and out of those systems. From years of work and work-arounds, these interfaces become complex and patched with custom coding. Much of the cost, time and risk in any digital transformation is found in this area making data migration one of the greatest challenges. The underlying process is called Extract Transform and Load or ETL.

At the same time, interface work is often thought of as basic blocking and tackling work in many IT departments and is often not considered as prominently as other parts of the system modernization.  This is combined with the reluctance of data trading partners to change the incoming feeds or doing so at a cost for many of the same reasons. The basic work of ETL can often become a drag on implementations due to the effort involved in both documenting and accommodating clients who also are slow to change.

Business rules, or the Transformation component of ETL, can end up in multiple IT systems and either lost in layers or trapped in legacy systems. Because they are built over time, there is a tendency to either add on to a very long and complex “rule” or to create a new “purpose-driven” task each time. Either path adds to the complexity and creates a process dilemma. The skills and the knowledge for transformation work are often split between the technical IT and business analysts. This often leads to having purpose-driven interfaces as the analyst attempts to replicate IT functions and use the technical tools directly, or the IT resource creates rules on the analyst’s behalf over and over via individual requests.

Our client, an enterprise healthcare payer/provider, was one of the organizations going through the process of modernization of their IT infrastructure and clinical delivery systems. The UM platform was replaced and interfaces had to be migrated. A new interface management and ETL tool, Snaplogic, was also implemented across the enterprise. As part of those efforts, they recognized that there was an opportunity to not repeat the past, and a need for a tool to migrate the interfaces to the new platform without repeating the process dilemma of purpose-driven interfaces. The purpose of the tool was to create a method for analysts to onboard customers and set up file transfers, or interfaces, without the need for purpose-driven coding.

Solution

We were engaged to build a GUI-based ETL middleware tool which leveraged Microsoft SQLServer, Snaplogic and a .Net interface. Middleware, in this context, is software that operates between the data source and the target system and allows communication that is not dependent on the two systems having a common structure. The middleware solution acts as a translator between the two systems and transformations are typically applied as the data moves from system to system. Middleware solutions can also be made available to the analyst to apply their contextual knowledge without having the overhead of ETL and IT administration.

We started by examining the capabilities of Snaplogic and the existing processes to discover the business context and the actual rules. We then looked into applying a master set of rules globally but instead opted to design a framework so that, by entering configuration details into the application, complex and custom rules were applied to any incoming feed in a generic fashion. We also designed the capability of using MDM-governed or core tables to consolidate multiple, independent incoming feeds into a single stream to the target UM system. The configuration also includes steps to validate the incoming records and diverting potential errors to a path for correction.

Results

By using the application framework we developed, analysts are now able to set up new customer feeds and connect to sources, move and archive files, apply transformation rules, validate data, load to targets and manage job scheduling without manipulating the underlying infrastructure. The resulting tool is a significant reduction in both development resource cost and time to implement new, and eventually change existing, customers.

This innovative no/low-code approach keeps the technical delivery in the framework, which reduced the IT support load, and allowed analysts to create and manage the process without assistance in all but the most difficult scenarios. By consolidating the rules within the framework, auditing and reporting of the specifics was simplified and could be more readily understood by both technical and business users.  This was accomplished by applying a generic approach to the process while still allowing individual customizations to be applied in a standardized format.

The engagement entailed extensive development, testing and component integration between the application, database and Snaplogic. This tool was not only delivered on time and on budget, but also met all functional requirements and attained all goals and objectives initially established by the client.

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emids delivered project management, change management and training services to help UHS care managers meet new state requirements.

Overview

United Health Services (UHS) is an upstate New York integrated health system comprised of four hospitals, a senior residence, physician practices and a home health organization.

In 2016, the organization now had to comply with the New York State Medicaid Health Home (MHH) program. This included automating the care management workflows to support the health home processes. New York’s health home requirements included data integration with a regional health information exchange (HIE).  Noncompliance would jeopardize UHS’ Medicaid reimbursement. We facilitated a vendor evaluation and selection process which identified Netsmart as the vendor of choice. We also worked closely with Netsmart and UHS to complete the pre-implementation planning work in a rapid timeframe, in preparation for the aggressive implementation schedule.

Solution

The implementation of Netsmart’s care coordination application began in June 2017, giving UHS less than four months to have the system ready for care managers in time for the state’s Medicaid deadline. Due to the tight timelines and the critical nature of the project, UHS care management and IT leaders knew strong change management support would be needed. We had proven experience successfully leading care management toolset implementations with change management support for large healthcare organizations, making us an excellent fit for this high-stakes project.

We applied proven processes to coordinate between the UHS care management team, the vendor and the regional HIE. This provided integrated project management, communication, risk management, quality assurance and data validation, training, and support throughout the four-month implementation.

Results

We supported the growth of UHS’ MHH program, ensuring the state’s requirements and deadline were met.

“The team at emids did a wonderful job of understanding and accounting for our organizational culture, creating smooth change management and transition plans for our staff,” said Annie DePugh, director of population health at UHS. “We were thrilled to maintain an on-time delivery schedule and avoid issues that could have been a roadblock with our care managers.”

Healthcare providers must continuously stay on track with changes in federal reimbursement programs, which often call for new IT requirements and workflow modifications. Complexities often come up when transitioning to new workflows and toolsets. We were a key partner in helping UHS evolve rapidly to meet an important new set of Medicaid Health Home requirements, ensuring consistent program operations and the best possible care for its chronic Medicaid population.