Michele Hellstern and Stephanie Hemphill from the Health Information Technology (HIT) team worked in unison with one of our hosted Electronic Medical Records (EMR) clients, Office of Dr. Andrea Smith and Diann York, RN, Clinical System Informaticist for Northwest Mississippi Regional Medical Center to successfully send a SOC (Summary of Care) message from the clinic EMR to the medical center. The afternoon of October 6th, the first live eReferral was sent on a patient being admitted. Both Northwest Mississippi Regional Medical Center and Dr. Smith will now meet the high priority MIPS (Merit based Incentive Payment System) measure and further reduce patient risk for medication or procedural error.
This MIPS measure (7.1) for Sending and Receiving an SOC has multiple steps required for success. The SOC encapsulates the patient’s diagnosis, vital signs, medical history, allergies, demographic data and selected notes, creating a Continuity of Care Document (CCD) sending it directly from a physician’s EHR into the hospital’s EHR, and vice versa. Once the patient information is received, the receiving provider or facility reviews the data, electronically acknowledging the receipt and review of the patient history and data. This measure improves patient safety by making sure all providers have access to the most up-to-date patient labs, diagnosis, allergies, and family history.
It is exceptionally rare that two entities are provided the chance to work on a mutual goal, and this project provides evidence to the positive outcomes that can be reached when working together!
