Stanford Uses InterSystems To Speed EMR Integration 
Stanford Hospital and Clinics (SHC), part of the Stanford University Medical Center, has is integrating all its legacy clinical applications and records to a electronic medical records system using InterSystems Corp.’s Ensemble object-based integration and development platform.
Stanford Hospital and Clinics (SHC), part of the Stanford University Medical Center, has is integrating all its legacy clinical applications and records to a electronic medical records system using InterSystems Corp.’s Ensemble object-based integration and development platform.
Stanford officials said InterSystems’ Ensemble and the InterSystems CACHE object database will be foundation components in its push to migrate its assets to a new EpicCare Electronic Medical Record (EMR) system.
As EpicCare was rolled out, all interfaces between applications throughout the enterprise were switched from SHC’s legacy integration platform to Ensemble, including administrative, financial billing, claims, and patient registration systems, according to SHC Chief Technology Officer Michael Keselman.
Ensemble supports low-latency integration, as well as management and audits, using a highly scalable and SQL-compliant object database at its core which can handle thousands of simultaneous users and terabytes of data. During the development of solutions, the Ensemble object model is extended to a variety of resources (applications, services, data sources, business rules, and other components) via Ensemble’s advanced abstraction facility.
The result: Ensemble can integrate various heterogeneous resources among one another, by abstracting the functionality and data of the native resource into a set of “object classes” with properties and methods. Once abstracted, Ensemble stores the classes in its database, and makes them available
“We’ve integrated multiple medical devices to EpicCare, a part of the overall integration project that generates our highest transaction volume,” Keselman said in a statement. In fact, since migrating from legacy integration software to the InterSystems Ensemble platform, SHC is now processing more than 2.2 million HL7 messaging transactions every day, he added.
Beyond volume of messages, Ensemble’s flexible architecture for integration also allowed SHC to improve its care delivery processes, Keselman said. Whenever an interface issue arises Ensembles generates automated alerts based on the critical nature of the interface. That means users are automatically notified of the problem.
As an example, if an SHC staffer places an order for a lab test for a patient in the emergency room, clinicians can be informed automatically and immediately if the lab application is unable to receive the test order. “In a scenario such as this, the clinicians will call in the order, eliminating wait time that can be critical in emergency scenarios,” Keselman said.
Further, Ensemble allows SHC to exchange EDI and HL7 transactions with business partners. These benefits are fueling SHC’s plans to add new B2B information exchange initiatives via Ensemble as a part of an expanding SOA strategy to improve health care efficiencies and patient care, according to Keselman.
SHC has been one of U.S. News & World Report magazine’s “America’s Best Hospitals” list for each of the past eight years.
