Physicians are wasting no time seeking up-to-date clinical data from hospitals, in order to make evidence-based decisions. To make it easier for caregivers to get this information when and where they need it, MEDITECH and Forward Advantage established a unique arrangement for reporting results to physicians' practices via a standard set of interfaces in the Laboratory, Microbiology, Blood Bank, Pathology, ITS, Radiology, and Departmental products.

A key component of MEDITECH's interoperability strategy, Data Express was developed by Forward Advantage in conjunction with MEDITECH for customers to seamlessly communicate with other health care organizations and physicians' practices. This strong working relationship between MEDITECH and Forward Advantage provides a fluid environment in which the product is deployed rapidly, traditional interface fees are avoided, and updates and enhancements to the product are made quickly and efficiently. And since the updates and enhancements are made to the supported set of interfaces, all Data Express customers benefit.

One customer experiencing benefits from this relationship is our MAGIC early adopter, Emanuel Medical Center (Turlock, CA), who went LIVE with Data Express in March 2008. Shortly after go-LIVE, the physician practice was amazed to see how quickly they were able to receive data. Currently, three MAGIC customers and four Client/Server customers are LIVE with Data Express working in conjunction with a variety of ambulatory EMR vendors. Notably, all Client/Server sites moved the MEDITECH Data Express interfaces from TEST to LIVE in under a month's time.

What other benefits will customers experience when they choose to collaborate with Forward Advantage and MEDITECH? We sat down with Randy Hunsaker, vice president of development for Forward Advantage, and Lori Messier, manager of interoperability for MEDITECH, to learn more about the close working relationship between the two companies and the unique opportunity Data Express offers.

MEDITECH: How did the MEDITECH and Forward Advantage relationship originate?

Lori Messier: MEDITECH has worked with Forward Advantage in the area of faxing for more than a decade. As we saw a number of customers looking in our direction to report results to physicians' practices through interfaces, we began searching for a way to do this through a single MEDITECH interface feed, rather than create individual interfaces for each practice management system. We knew Forward Advantage had expertise in routing and delivering clinical results to physicians, so we asked them to co-develop a solution with us, which would provide customers with a rapid and cost-effective deployment model.

Randy Hunsaker: And this request fit right into our long-term strategy of working with MEDITECH on product solutions tailored to improve workflow and enhance relationships with physicians. This is an area of great interest for us, as it provides big opportunities for customers who are seeking profitability gains and increased communication among caregivers.


MEDITECH: Can you explain why our customers should choose Data Express for results reporting to physician offices?

Messier: Cost often drives decisions; and this is as cost-effective as you get. The "one-to-many" feature, coupled with an integrated data transformation process, significantly reduces the time, effort, and cost of deploying, maintaining, and supporting your interoperability solution. And unlike many interface engines, there are no per-connection or per-recipient charges. MEDITECH also has provided bundled pricing for the Data Express suite of interfaces to make this option even more cost-effective.

Hunsaker: Other benefits include reliable products and proven implementation services. Data Express is built on the Communication Director platform deployed at over 800 MEDITECH facilities. Data Express leverages the reliable and proven routing technology, so customers will not have to develop a routing mechanism as is often required with other interface engines. Existing Communication Director customers also enjoy the added benefit of using the familiar interface.

Additionally, Forward Advantage provides their customer-acclaimed implementation services to deploy Data Express, so customers do not have to devote resources to configure and maintain the HL7 output formats.


MEDITECH: How does the unique relationship between MEDITECH and Forward Advantage benefit Data Express customers?

Messier: Our unique relationship allows us to develop content-rich interfaces for the purpose of delivering results to physician EMRs. Because of this relationship, Forward Advantage has the ability to request additional content from MEDITECH over time without the need for customers to research requirements or pay us for additional content. Forward Advantage acts as the conduit for getting changes into the interface.

Moreover, Data Express' integration with MEDITECH's Health Care Information System is based on fully supported HL7 interfaces specifically designed by MEDITECH for Data Express. Therefore, any changes to MEDITECH applications' user interface or other data interfaces are designed to work with Data Express.

Hunsaker: This relationship is a win-win for everyone involved. We have been serving MEDITECH's customers in the area of results delivery for a very long time. Our experience helps us better understand the needs of our mutual customers.


MEDITECH: What other advantages will customers experience when using Data Express, as opposed to another interface solution?

Hunsaker: With other interface engines, the customer is responsible for developing the inbound and outbound interfaces, as well as the code to transform received messages into the format required by the recipient. We handle this for our customers. If a physician's EMR can't accept the standard HL7 message formats, Data Express provides the flexibility of supporting customized output formats. And you can choose to stream the data directly to the EMR or deliver a file to a secure location.

Additionally, other interface engine technology which relies on "screen scraping" or "scripting" is susceptible to failure when MEDITECH applications undergo user interface changes. If the user interface changes when a new version of MEDITECH software is released, then it is very likely the interface engine's "script" will need to be re-coded, to recognize and understand the new user interface.

Messier: That's a very important point. Other interface engine technologies used with custom HL7 interfaces purchased from MEDITECH do not benefit from the ongoing Data Express HL7 interfaces improvements, as these are developed and maintained by MEDITECH. When a customer requests support for additional EMR systems, we evaluate and compare the data requirements to the available content in the MEDITECH interfaces for Data Express. If additional data is required, Forward Advantage works with MEDITECH to add the additional data, if available, to the MEDITECH interfaces. Once complete, this data becomes available to all Data Express customers and all supported EMR systems.


MEDITECH: What is the current development strategy for the Data Express product?

Messier: We need to continue exploring our capabilities in this area. For example, Data Express provides bi-directional support, including the capacity for "Orders In" to MEDITECH and ADT information to physician EMRs. Responding to our customers' input, we are designing a more streamlined approach for communicating orders into MEDITECH through Data Express. This will standardize the interface across all applications and manage the EMPI challenges with pending and future accounts, and orders from external sources.

Hunsaker: The result will be a more rapid deployment. We also will continue to expand the EMR output format library and add any additional data elements customers need, based on EMR requirements.


MEDITECH: It sounds like a solid working relationship. How do you think your relationship has evolved over time?

Hunsaker: Our relationship evolves as the products evolve. As a "one-to-many" model, Data Express transforms HL7 data provided from the MEDITECH system into multiple output formats for physicians' ambulatory EMRs. The Data Express approach for "Orders In" to MEDITECH will use the same "one-to-many" methodology, coupled with a streamlined MEDITECH orders inbound interface.


MEDITECH: What can customers expect from this collaboration in the future?

Messier: We are committed to maintaining and updating the suite of interfaces to support emerging standards and market-leading ambulatory EMRs, which provides cost savings and longevity of the solution for the customer.

Hunsaker: By working closely with MEDITECH, we are providing an endorsed solution, which will meet our customers' needs now, and ensure their investment will continue to be valuable in the future.

For more information about our customers' experiences with Data Express, check out this video interview with Emanuel Medical Center.