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Capabilities Health Data Management Personal Health Records Project Overview

Personal Health Records

Electronic Medical Records

Health Information Exchange

Health Data Extraction

Additional Projects

Project History

Medicaid Transformation Grant

This initiative originally started through funding provided by Medicaidand the state of West Virginia. West Virginia’s Department of Healthand Human Resources was awarded a Medicaid Transformation Grantin 2007. This funding was subsequently awarded to ShepherdUniversity, partnered with KRM Associates Inc. Under the grant, therewere three elements these two organizations collaborated on:

An evaluation of the existing status of Electronic Medical Record (EMR)s within the state of WestVirginia, and a comparison of features and functionality of implemented solutions.The development and deployment of a Personal Health Record (PHR) system as a proof ofconcept.A proof of concept demonstration of an Electronic Medical Record interacting with a PersonalHealth Record through a Health Information Exchange.

The overarching goal of this project was to establish a baseline understanding of Electronic MedicalRecords throughout the state, and use this information to develop a model for the advancement of EMRtechnology. Through this exercise the unique needs of West Virginia could be addressed.

In approaching the Personal Health Record component of their proof of concept, KRM’s initialintention was to leverage an existing PHR solution, also developed by Department of Veteran’sAffairs, titled “MyHealtheVet”. This highly successful and award winning PHR provides criticalpatient services to veterans, and has been lauded as an benchmark for the industry. However,upon a technical assessment of the solution, it was determined MyHealtheVet was too tetheredto the VA’s Vista EMR to make a publicly interoperable installation of this solution too difficult tomerit the time and effort.

The decision was instead made to develop and deploy an internally created solution. Throughthis approach, the solution’s interoperability with the open-source community could be assured.Additionally, through working with medical staff, both patient and provider needs could beaddressed to assist the project in its relevance and growth.

To provide an adoptable and sustainable solution, KRM recognized that patient and providerfeedback in an ongoing manner would be of critical importance. In beginning project design, KRMand Shepherd University reached out to various resources in the state of West Virginia, includingprior Veteran’s Administration employees involved in the MyHealtheVet program. Throughworking with this staff, KRM was able to leverage lessons learned from the MyHealtheVetinitiative in their product design. Additionally, by working with clinicians and medical

professionals within thestate, the product hasbeen developed with theirongoing appraisal andinput to guide the projecttowards meaningfulfunctionality.

To ensure interoperability,KRM examined standardsemerging throughout theindustry relative todocument formats andexchange protocols. Byconforming to federallyprovided guidelines, thesolution could exist on astandard capable ofinteracting with nearly anymedical system. Inselecting an EMR format toconform to, KRM used thestandards set forward bythe CertificationCommission for Health

EMR Ev aluation PHR Dev elopment Integration

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Commission for HealthInformation Technology(CCHIT). Within thiscontext and for thisspecific pilot, the continuityof care record (CCR)standard was selected for

its robust architechture and XML-extensible format. For information exchange, this format is alsowell suited for transfer using the NHIN CONNECT standards.

This product needed to be widely adoptable in order to function in West Virginia, so the decisionwas made to build this project in non-licensed technologies. Currently, the installation existswith a MySQL database back-end, accompanied by Java-based middle tier and front end. Byusing widely adopted and low-cost technologies, the solution could provide a more readilydistributable and affordable alternative in the healthcare technology market. This project, uponcompletion, will be furnished to the healthcare community as an open-source solution.