A major part of Hunterdon Healthcare's strategy was to integrate the electronic medical records (EMR) system at each of their 15 affiliated physician groups with the EMR and other systems at the Hunterdon Healthcare Medical Center. "Integration is one of the most important things we need to deal with for continuity of care and patient safety," said Mamary. "It has to be transparent to users and patients and we rely on Ensemble to make this happen."

Multi-Year Effort Supports Range of Communication Projects
"When we initially rolled out Ensemble, it was being used primarily as an interface engine," said Mamary. "We've found that Ensemble is much more... in addition, it's a powerful development platform that enables the rapid development and deployment of connectable applications so critical for providers in the fast-changing healthcare sector. With Ensemble, integration options are only limited by your imagination."

In their latest initiative, Hunterdon Healthcare relies on Ensemble to connect the medical center's QuadraMed Affinity hospital information system (HIS) and a major laboratory information system with the physician groups' Electronic Health Record and Enterprise Practice Management systems from NextGen Healthcare Information Systems. This project has resulted in a number of significant communication enhancements including:

• Automated Primary Care Physician Notification - A patient's primary care provider is automatically notified when that patient is admitted to the hospital. As a result, both physicians and patients report improved satisfaction based on the improved communication.
• Employee Utilization Notice Alerts - Ensemble transmits data between the QuadraMed Affinity payroll system and the Kronos payroll system for information such as time worked per employee, overtime hours and other employee utilization data. Reports are sent to Hunterdon managers and executives who use the information to improve management of employee overtime, leading to significant savings in terms of overtime hours.
• Internal Lab Testing - Information from the Affinity, NextGen and Cerner systems is integrated to offer physicians within the Hunterdon network the option of having lab tests done by the hospital, rather than by a separate laboratory testing service provider.
• Medication Reconciliation - Ensemble transactions are sent from the QuadraMed Affinity Registration System into the Dr. First Medical Reconciliation external reference database. Ensemble then matches the patients and produces medication profiles from external sources which are subsequently routed to nursing units, pharmacy or other healthcare providers. This functionality is a substantial improvement for patient safety as Hunterdon Healthcare is able to retrieve a more complete medication history on patients upon admission.

In addition to the integration projects within the Hunterdon network, future plans include joining an HIE in northern central New Jersey, according to Mamary. "We're in the preliminary stages of starting to form an HIE," he noted.

"With the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and the expansion of meaningful use of EMR systems, many healthcare organizations are implementing EMR systems at their physician offices," said Paul Grabscheid, InterSystems Vice President of Strategic Planning. "Innovative organizations like Hunterdon are realizing that integrating those systems using Ensemble leads to significant improvements in patient care and patient safety, and sizable operational efficiencies."

About InterSystems
InterSystems Corporation is the worldwide leader in software for connected healthcare. With headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and offices in 24 countries, InterSystems provides advanced software technologies for breakthrough applications. InterSystems CACHÉ® is a high performance object database that makes applications faster and more scalable. InterSystems Ensemble® is a seamless platform for integration and the development of connected applications. InterSystems HealthShare™ is a platform that enables the fastest creation of an Electronic Health Record for regional or national health information exchange. InterSystems DeepSee™ is software that makes it possible to embed real-time business intelligence in transactional applications. For more information, visit InterSystems.com.

About Hunterdon Healthcare System
Hunterdon Healthcare System is a non-profit health care organization in Flemington, New Jersey that has partnered with the Hunterdon Physician Practice Association to form Hunterdon Healthcare Partners LLC, an integrated delivery network dedicated to enhancing patient care. This Partnership was created with the goal of providing the residents of Hunterdon County and the surrounding area access to integrated health care. Hunterdon Healthcare System is the parent of the Hunterdon Medical Center, a 178-bed facility that provides comprehensive medical, diagnostic, surgical, behavioral health, rehabilitative, and preventive health services for inpatients and outpatients. For more information, go to www.hunterdonhealthcare.org.