Kettering to Deploy Health IT System for Faster EMS, Hospital Links
Kettering Health Network is implementing a new healthcare IT system designed to speed exchange of patient information between emergency medical service (EMS) personnel and hospitals.
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- Kettering Health Network is implementing a new healthcare IT system designed to speed exchange of patient information between emergency medical service (EMS) personnel and hospitals.
Kettering is partnering with ESO to implement a bidirectional data exchange platform that will enable EMS personnel and hospitals to exchange a patient’s electronic health record during an emergency.
The health system is also teaming with TrackEMS to supply a hospital alerting app that enables EMS personnel to transmit patient information from the field directly to the hospital emergency department and cath lab.
Using the app, EMS personnel can wirelessly and securely transmit case summaries, pictures, and videos to the hospital and notify hospital staff about incoming EMS transports. The software also will be integrated into Kettering’s operations command center.
Kettering unveiled its new $10 million operations command center in May of this year. The center comes complete with the latest health IT infrastructure and serves as a central hub for managing patient transportation, bed placement, and discharge.
“As our network has grown and really got more into the communities we serve, we’ve had to say let’s look and see how we do things a little differently,” said John Weimer, vice president of network emergency, trauma, and operations command center at Kettering Health Network.
When the command center project was first announced last year, officials said the 17,000-square-foot facility could increase to 40,000 square feet and employ 300 when fully functional.
The new technologies are scheduled to be fully implemented later this year. Kettering plans to share them with area EMS agencies.
“We are excited to partner with ESO on this patient-centered technology,” said Weimer.
“Our EMS teams provide a high level of care to our community. They are on the front lines of patient care. This technology will help free them up so they can focus on caring for the patient at a point of care when minutes matter,” he added.
Premier Health Partners with ESO on Similar Health IT System
Competing Ohio health system Premier Health is deploying a similar system to improve patient data exchange between EMS personnel and hospitals.
Premier Health is also partnering with ESO to ease exchange of patient data between EMS agencies and the health system’s Epic EHR system.
The partnership is designed to lower technical barriers to sharing patient data between first respondents and hospitals by using a data exchange interface that enables them to enter information collected in the field directly to the patient’s EHR.
“The information first responders gather in the field, and their associated treatment, is a critical piece of information for physicians in the emergency department,” said Randy Marriott, MD, emergency medicine physician and medical director of Premier Health’s EMS Center of Excellence.
“Having access to that information in near real time will help hospital clinicians improve bedside decision-making,” Marriott added.
Premier Health is conducting a six-month pilot program with EMS agencies in its nine-county service area. The pilot program is providing an opportunity for training of first responders and system refinements.
EMS personnel receive data about the health of the patients they are transporting. Sharing patient data will help fire departments and EMS agencies provide better response times, improve patient safety, and enhance healthcare in the field, Premier said.
The ability for emergency medical technicians and paramedics to receive feedback on the hospital outcome for their patients is expected to improve patient care in the field.
The first group of EMS agencies in Middletown, Brookville, Monroe, New Jasper, and Tipp City began the pilot in January. Dayton Fire, Englewood, Trenton, and Union Township Miami County joined the pilot in March. Additional groups will begin interfacing their records as soon as technical requirements are finalized, Premier explained.
