Franciscan Health System health information exchange evolution

Franciscan Health System, located in Washington State, wanted to streamline the delivery of their clinical results to affiliated physicians. They chose Axolotl's Elysium® Exchange platform in 1999 and have since evolved into one of the largest, successful health information exchanges (HIEs) in their state— serving more than 600 unique organizations, 6,000 users and 1,800 health care providers who rely on the Franciscan HIE every day.

The Challenges

Physicians need comprehensive patient information instantly, to provide the highest quality, cost effective care for their patients. They need to be able to receive and send clinical information directly from their electronic medical record (EMR) system of choice so that they can easily communicate and collaborate on patient care with all other care participants.  

The Franciscan Health System leadership team wanted to offer HIE services to all the physicians, providing an invaluable set of tools to assist with handoffs between hospitals, physicians, skilled nursing facilities (SNFs), and other care settings.  The vision was to ensure that existing EMR technologies, already in use by physicians, could easily be connected to the HIE. In addition, that the HIE would provide EMR tools to practices that were not electronic so that the entire area would be 'up' on the 'Clinical Network'.

The Solution

Using Axolotl's Elysium Exchange suite of applications, the Franciscan Health System has been able to meet each new set of goals - from results delivery to complete health information exchange with a comprehensive virtual health record (VHR), a portal of data collected from the entire HIE.

Providers connected to the Franciscan HIE are able to receive and communicate data directly from their EMR without the use of specialized hardware in the practice - bi-directionally sharing referrals, laboratory results, radiology reports, and other patient data, instantly and securely. With a single click they can view and pull essential patient information from the VHR.

Practices that do not have an EMR are offered Axolotl's Elysium® EMR, a web-based solution and fully interoperable EMR that enables any provider within the Franciscan HIE to electronically exchange information seamlessly and naturally with other participants on the network. Physicians receive and action results, write prescriptions, complete orders, process referrals, etc.

"We distribute results electronically, greatly reducing manual paper handling costs and dramatically reducing lost reports.  Our conservative cost savings average $3 million a year," said Mary Kasal, Executive Director of Franciscan HIE. "Our offerings and support structure have created a tight knit health care community that is improving care for our patients."

Today, the Franciscan HIE is one of the only regional providers that can effectively receive and route multiple data feeds to multiple providers; 600+ different organization that use the system, including hospitals, clinics, HMO's, skilled nursing homes, laboratories, radiology groups, independent physicians - open to all health care organizations that have physicians/licensed providers caring for patients in the region, regardless of health system affiliation.  Elysium Exchange is an open, standards based solution that is offered as a software service (SaaS).  

"Physicians increasingly need to be able to receive and manage clinical information regardless of where care is delivered," said Mary.  "The Franciscan HIE system brings together data from disparate EMRs and information systems and presents it to the physician in a longitudinal format.  This single patient view is immediately accessible from their practice EMR or a single sign on to the HIE's VHR using a secure browser."

Summary of Results

• Affiliated and non affiliated physicians are able to access and electronically share patient data seamlessly with other practices and organizations connected to the Franciscan HIE.
• Sophisticated interface engine that intakes and routes clinical results with discrete data elements to multiple EMRs cost effectively.
• Interoperable EMR for paper based practices, which is accessible through any secure browser- no software installs, no hardware/software issues, instantly available when and where it is needed.
• HIE participants share patient encounters, memos, referrals, authorization requests and much more - with a single click.
• Electronic workflow helps physician practices be more efficient and profitable.
• Improved patient care and safety through redundant test reduction - all results are available anytime.
• Comprehensive patient data from across the HIE, provided through a single VHR portal.

  Key Statistics on Franciscan HIE:

  • More than 900,000 patients in the 'community patient index'
  • More than 11 million clinical results transmitted over the network annually
  • More than 1,000 daily active users, 55-65% of daily users are physicians/practitioners
  • Local support team dedicated to HIE - 24/7/365 for all users
  • Interoperable Web based EMR available - enabling all physicians to get connected
  • Full integration with voice recognition tools for physicians
  • Daily use by physicians in competing hospitals, HMO's, emergency departments and the region's Military Medical Centers