A collaborative effort is breaking down the barriers to interoperability, better care and improved patient outcomes
Kno2®, the company that provides interoperability as a service to everyone in healthcare, today announced that with the broadening scope of the Carequality Interoperability Framework, Kno2 has unleashed query-based exchange for emergency medical services, specialty pharmacies and paper-based providers using Carequality.
Kno2 has been with Carequality since the beginning, an early implementer of the Carequality Interoperability Framework, and thus enabling query-based document exchange for their partners and providers. In fact, Kno2 participated in the first demonstration of nationwide patient data exchange across networks using Carequality to the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) in October, 2016.
“In March of 2018, the Carequality Query-Based Document Exchange Implementation Guide was updated to allow those provider organizations without electronic clinical information to query for patient information, even though they did not have a mechanism in place to respond,” said Alan Swenson, Kno2 vice president of interoperability. “This opened a door for our paper-based providers, allowing them to take advantage of interoperable methods of exchange to improve patient care today, while they embark on a transition towards electronic health records.”
“A second exception was added for emergency medical services (EMS) providers with alternative data sharing methods,” Swenson continues. “They can now query vital patient information, such as current medications and allergies, allowing them to provide safer care during transport.” After they deliver the patient to the emergency department, the EMS agency can then prepare and send the ePCR (electronic patient care report) to complete the record of care leveraging the DirectTrust™ framework and send using the Direct Standard™.
Just this past month, the Carequality Steering Committee agreed that specialty pharmacies fall under the current exception for provider organizations without an EHR, and they too, can now leverage query-based exchange to improve patient care.
Since these updates, EMS agencies and paper-based providers across the country have begun using the Kno2 connection to Carequality to easily access clinical information from nearby hospitals and provider organizations to improve patient care. Additionally, Kno2 supports interoperability for specialty pharmacies and is pleased to welcome Apex Specialty Pharmacy to the expanding Carequality community, having recently supported their addition to the Carequality directory.
“We appreciate Alan Swenson’s perspective on our Steering Committee as an advocate for interoperability,” said Dave Cassel, executive director of Carequality. “In collaboration with all the members of the Steering Committee, he has supported expanding the Carequality Framework to be more inclusive.
“Our mission to provide interoperability to everyone in healthcare is certainly aligned to organizations like Carequality, the CommonWell Health Alliance® and DirectTrust,” said Kno2 CEO Jon Elwell. “We will continue to advocate for our partners and their providers and very much appreciate the leadership from these organizations, especially as we all react to the proposed rulings from CMS and ONC, including draft two of the Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement (TEFCA).”
About Carequality
Carequality is a national-level, consensus-built, interoperability trusted exchange framework to enable exchange between and among health information networks. Carequality brings together a diverse group of representatives, including electronic health record (EHR) vendors, record locator service (RLS) providers, and other types of existing networks from the private sector and government, to determine technical and policy agreements to enable data to flow between and among networks, platforms, and geographies, much like the telecommunications industry did for linking cell phone networks. For more information, visit http://www.carequality.org and follow us at twitter.com/carequalitynet.
About Kno2
Kno2® is leading healthcare’s path to interoperability across every patient care setting. Kno2: Interoperability as a Service™ (IaaS) turns on connectivity to millions of healthcare providers and the capability to send, receive, find and use patient information with everyone. Kno2’s IaaS enables access to providers via cloud faxing, Direct secure messaging, patient information query and patient care networks (referrals, ACOs, HIEs), all in a single experience and guided by connectivity assessments and analytics. To discover your path to interoperability, please visit http://www.kno2.com.
