Interbit Data’s NetDelivery Distributes HL7 and Patient Data Quickly and Efficiently to Records Managed by Canada’s Leading EMR Software Provider

Natick, MA – October 6, 2009 – Interbit Data, a leading provider of software and services for improving healthcare efficiency, reports that NetDelivery, its information distribution solution, has delivered across-the-board results for Cambridge Memorial Hospital (CMH), helping to improve its level of patient care.

Based in Ontario, Canada, CMH has reduced time, costs, paper waste and the risk of error by using NetDelivery to electronically transfer data in HL7 and other formats from its healthcare IT system to physicians’ electronic medical records (EMRs) supported by Practice Solutions Software. A subsidiary of the Canadian Medical Association, Practice Solutions is Canada’s leading EMR software provider and Ontario’s largest, and it is certified as a funding eligible clinical management system (CMS) by OntarioMD.

“Using electronic data distribution saves paper, reduces paper costs and eliminates manual handling of data, which can take hours, pose a risk to data security and patient privacy, and increase inaccuracies,” said Brad Smith, clinical applications consultant at Cambridge Memorial Hospital. “With NetDelivery, reports are delivered to physicians’ secure hospital network folders in real-time. All they need to do is go to the secure portal connecting them to the hospital, find their network folder and click and drag their patient’s file to their hard drive and their Practice Solutions EMR. NetDelivery transfers lab test results to the EMR via HL7, removing the need to type results into the EMR and risk transcription errors.”

“NetDelivery makes it easier for the hospital to monitor when the doctor’s office has picked up the data and eliminates the concern that the information could go to the wrong doctor,” adds Dr. James Kavanagh, a CMH physician and medical director at Practice Solutions Software. “We can cut down on the number of calls to the hospital for verbal reports on lab tests because we can now view lab results electronically. Having information computerized provides ease and convenience that benefits patient care; for example, we can graph lab test results received via HL7 to compare and assess trends.”

With NetDelivery and NetDelivery with the Integration Module, data and reports generated by a Health Care Information System (HCIS), such as MEDITECH, is securely and reliably reformatted into HL7 messages and easily integrated in physicians’ EMRs. NetDelivery is all-inclusive, addressing the range of different requirements. The software is also flexible and accommodating, allowing healthcare providers to distribute data and reports easily to multiple recipients and via multiple methods, such as fax, encrypted print stream, encrypted file or email. Integration with physicians’ EMRs becomes as easy as printing a report.

Cambridge Memorial Hospital currently has over 80 physicians’ offices uploading diagnostic imaging, dictated/transcribed documents and laboratory report files via NetDelivery into their EMRs, with more physicians expected to come on board in the next year.

About Cambridge Memorial Hospital

An Affiliated Teaching Site of McMaster University School of Medicine, Cambridge Memorial Hospital is a recognized RNAO Best Practice Spotlight Organization serving the communities of Cambridge, North Dumfries, Doon and Deer Ridge in Ontario, Canada. With 155 acute care beds, 1,500 dedicated and skilled employees, and 400 volunteers, the hospital’s vital statistics for 2008-2009 include: 88,866 diagnostic procedures; 73,165 outpatient visits; 46,079 emergency department visits; 12,185 surgical cases; 3,044 breast screenings; 1,476 births; 1,328 cataract surgeries; and 395 hip/knee replacements. For more information, visit the Cambridge Memorial Hospital’s web site.

About Practice Solutions

Practice Solutions, a division of MD Physician Services Inc. (a CMA company), is the leading provider of end-to-end technology and practice management solutions for Canadian physicians, which includes CMS, consulting services, educational seminars, billing services, physician web portals, and publishing of physician and patient-oriented magazines. Practice Solutions is headquartered in Ottawa and employs more than 160 professionals, with offices across Canada. For more information about Practice Solutions, visit the Practice Solution’s web site.

When the patient reviewed the record he was shocked at the innacuracies. According to the article:

“Some of the information in his Google Health record was drawn from billing records, which sometimes reflect imprecise information plugged into codes required by insurers. Google Health and others in the fast-growing personal health record business say they are offering a revolutionary tool to help patients navigate a fragmented healthcare system, but some doctors fear that inaccurate information from billing data could lead to improper treatment.”

And the article went on from there to recommend that the patient should review and correct the record with their physician.

“Patients who discover mistakes in their health records can delete information, add notes, or ask providers to correct problems. Dr. Todd Taylor, a former emergency room doctor who now works for Microsoft Health Solutions group, which makes the personal health record Microsoft HealthVault, said patients “need to take an active role in managing their health data,” preferably by reviewing them with a medical professional.”

So how will doctors schedule those appointments in with their busy days and who would be responsible for reimbursing it?

The long and short of it is that the best indexed data was from the accounting system and the inclusion of certain codes could be interpreted as relatively benine or catastrophic, no context or time frame seemed to be provided. The hospital announced this weeked that it was suspending its agreement with Google.

Information sharing is here or at least seen on the close horizon.

What are people doing now if a patient want’s their record?