Kootenai Health Streamlines Integration with Summit Healthcare

Kootenai Health, a recent recipient of the "Most Wired Innovator" award, is progressive in its IT strategy and its approach to integration. Beginning in early 2012, Kootenai Health worked with Summit Healthcare to streamline its current integration strategy and future interoperability goals. The Summit Interoperability Platform featuring theSummit Express Connect interface engine and Summit Provider Exchange solution provided Kootenai's interface foundation for achieving these goals.

Kootenai Health, located in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, is a community-owned health care organization comprised of a 254-bed hospital, a heart clinic and multiple outpatient clinics serving a rural population of 300,000 in northern Idaho. Known for providing exceptional care, Kootenai continues to receive regional and national recognition for its projects and offerings.

In early 2012, Kootenai Health devised a long term strategy to decrease IT outsourcing costs, increase revenue and stabilize healthcare IT for the surrounding community. The organization launched a strategic IT restructuring, expansion and insourcing project and within the first 10 months, trippled the size of its technical staff and reduced outsourcing by 59 percent while saving more than $1M in operating costs. Kootenai IT now provides technology services and support to an ever-growing customer base currently comprised of four critical access hospitals, 110 Kootenai Clinic physicians and advanced practice professionals, 22 internal clinics and 24 external clinics (including two non-health care offices). Integration and interoperability are essential to the IT organization's success in empowering regional healthcare providers to collaboratively deliver exceptional patient care.

In March 2012, Kootenai's IT team evaluated integration vendors and chose Summit Healthcare, which has an impressive history of working with their HCIS system, as well as a solid track record for proven integration.

The first initiative Kootenai Health had for Summit Healthcare was to eliminate point-to-point interfaces and streamline integration. At the time, Kootenai had a point-to-point interface environment with over 100 interfaces that proved labor intensive to manage and continued to be cost prohibitive. The organization also had six electronic health care systems to integrate. In addition to Kootenai's primary inpatient system, the organization also supports five additional ambulatory and outpatient systems: NextGen, Greenway, Epic, GE and Altos. Regional outpatient clinics asked Kootenai Health to enable their outpatient systems to integrate with Kootenai's inpatient processing at the hospital.

As with many other healthcare facilities, contributing to a health data exchange was also an important integration initiative for Kootenai Health. The goal was to connect to Idaho Health Data Exchange (IHDE) to send public health data, ancillary information such as radiology images, and clinical laboratory data. Preparations for a regional HIE also needed to remain in the forefront as Kootenai prepared to select a portal for both physicians and patient engagement.

To address their immediate and future integration plans, the Summit Interoperability Platform would act as the technology foundation for the information exchange. The Summit Express Connect interface engine efficiently connects and routes data between Kootenai Health and their multiple ancillary systems and also enables Kootenai's data exchange with external entities like the IHIE and their outpatient clinics. The Summit Provider Exchange technology manages the bi-directional integration between the ambulatory systems and their HCIS. It handles the unique workflow and registration challenges that can present when connecting bi-directionally.

Kootenai Health estimates that they achieved savings of $50,000 to $75,000 in 2012 by eliminating duplicate interface purchases and maintenance costs, and reallocating hospital IT staff back to priority projects. As the organization continues to support physician integration demands, costs savings are projected to increase.

"When looking for an integration solution, we hoped to find a vendor we could grow with," said Steve Garske, PhD, Chief Information Officer, Kootenai Health. "Summit Healthcare has supported our organization through all of our integration needs and has delivered quality technology to meet our immediate and future integration goals. We look forward to a continued partnership."

"Supporting progressive organizations like Kootenai Health is what we at Summit Healthcare strive to do. We take pride in helping our customers achieve their interoperability goals whether it's connecting with a regional HIE or attesting for meaningful use, Summit Healthcare is here to support their initiatives. We look forward to a long and prosperous relationship with Kootenai Health," said Ted Rossi, CEO, Summit Healthcare.