Ochsner Health System to Transform Healthcare in Louisiana Using Carefx Interoperability Solution and Federated Model
Deployment at seven hospitals and 33 clinics confirms Carefx's effectiveness on Louisiana healthcare
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — July 30, 2008 — Expanding its information technology and data integration solutions to more Louisiana hospitals, health systems and physician practices, Carefx Corporation today announced that New Orleans-based Ochsner Health System will deploy the Fusion by Carefx interoperability platform to provide 15,000 users, including 1,500 physicians, with a detailed and unified view of patient data from multiple clinical databases. Ochsner physicians will be able to access real-time patient information through a portal from anywhere – at the point-of care, remotely from home, the office or while traveling.
“Carefx’s technology furthers Ochsner’s goal of improving clinical care and efficiency in the post-Katrina era,” says Lynn Witherspoon, M.D., Ochsner’s System Vice President and Chief Information Officer, who was recently named an IT innovator by Healthcare Informatics magazine. “With the ability to access all of a patient’s information, anytime, from across the Ochsner system, physicians can improve their medical decision-making and obtain a more complete picture of their patient’s health.”
The Ochsner partnership brings Carefx’s Louisiana deployments to nearly 70. It also complements and extends Carefx’s involvement with the Louisiana Rural Health Information Exchange (LAHRIX), which links 24 northern Louisiana community hospitals with Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in Shreveport.
In supplying Ochsner with its Fusion platform, architecture and aggregate view of real-time patient data within a portal framework, Carefx is also fostering implementation of a transformational federated model where data need not be moved, replicated or changed. Ochsner physicians stand to benefit from real-time single views of patient information emanating from multiple, different databases.
“Overall, the federated data model goes a long way to minimize common squabbles over data ownership, while overcoming physician reticence and lack of confidence related to data accuracy and timeliness,” said Andy Hurd, chairman and CEO of Carefx. “The model offers physicians’ workflow-specific data views from disparate systems, while encouraging higher levels of information exchange for better decision-making and better care.”
Ochsner’s movement toward a federated model began when Dr. Witherspoon experienced an increased sense of urgency to provide access to all clinical information collected at any of Ochsner’s facilities. He launched a search for a solution that would build upon previous IT successes and facilitate the seamless integration of Ochsner’s internally developed electronic medical record (EMR) with systems from Meditech, Siemens, McKesson, and Agfa. Witherspoon found the interoperability solution he needed in Fusion from Carefx.
“Ochsner’s partnership with Carefx is one more step toward achieving the post-Katrina healthcare renaissance where healthcare facilities join forces with vendors and government to drive change through technology,” says Witherspoon. ”The beneficiaries of our partnership are the clinicians who’ve elected to labor on in a tough environment and our patients who, in many cases, have lost everything and are deeply grateful for the opportunity to receive quality healthcare.”
In addition to simplifying provider access to clinical data, Witherspoon hopes to create an IT infrastructure compatible with LARHIX. Launched in March 2008, LARHIX chose Fusion from Carefx because it does not rely on a central data repository and because of its ability to provide a real-time interface between LSU Shreveport physicians and 24 participating rural hospitals. Whether physicians are at LSU or on a rotation at a rural hospital, they can now click into a portal offering similar navigation and access to patient information. Ochsner physicians can look forward to experiencing the same kinds of benefits.
“The Ochsner partnership delivers a web services model that takes advantage of an advanced Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) framework” stated Oscar Diaz, EVP and Chief Software Architect at Carefx. “Ochsner will be taking advantage of SOA to improve workflow for physicians and clinicians and provide rapid access to patient information across the enterprise at the right place and the right time. This framework delivers a ready architecture that complements the implementation of the state wide access to a patient’s information that is consistent with the LARHIX architecture,” Diaz added.
The Ochsner partnership and LARHIX announcements come in the midst of impressive national growth for Carefx, a leader in healthcare IT interoperability. Carefx experienced record-breaking growth during the fourth quarter of 2007 and the first quarter of this year, adding some 70+ healthcare facilities to its client base which now stands at more than 300.
About Ochsner Health System
Ochsner Health System (www.ochsner.org) is a non-profit, academic, multi-specialty, healthcare delivery system dedicated to patient care, research and education. The system includes seven hospitals and over 35 health centers located throughout Southeast Louisiana. Ochsner employs over 600 physicians in 80 medical specialties and subspecialties and 450 clinical research trials annually. Ochsner was ranked one of the "Best Places to Work" by New Orleans CityBusiness in 2005, 2006 and 2007 and received the Consumer Choice for Healthcare in New Orleans for 12 consecutive years. Ochsner was ranked as "Best" Hospital by U.S. News and World Report in July 2007. Ochsner has over 10,000 employees system-wide.
About Carefx Corporation
Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Carefx is the only provider of an open, scalable patient data aggregation platform that provides clinicians with real-time access to information residing in disparate clinical applications. Fusion from Carefx can be operated either in a desktop or a web-based environment and is customizable to each user’s workflow. For more information, visit www.carefx.com.
