District of Columbia Patient Data Hub (PDH) Abstract
In 2007, 27 states received Medicaid Transformation Grants under Section 6081 of the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005. The grants were rewarded to states that proposed innovative methods which in the end of the two years are designed to produce better health outcomes at lower cost.
The Center for Health Transformation is highlighting states that have received these Medicaid Transformation Grants, and will be following their progress for the next two years. In order for key decisionmakers and industry leaders from around the country to learn from others’ successes, it is our intention to provide this resource in order to showcase innovative practices from across the nation. In the future, this site will be interactive, allowing program directors to submit updates and comments regarding their program.
In order to make substantial progress in creating an integrated medical care environment within the District of Columbia, the DC Department of Health (DOH) will implement an initial, scalable central, shared Patient Data Hub (PDH) service (as described in the MITA Framework 2.0 as a MITA Hub) that will allow numerous complex IT systems developed and maintained by separate entities to interoperate and cooperate through a patient-centric driven system.
The overall DOH plan would assist the 52 neighborhoods comprising our Health Clinics in implementing a Practice Management and Electronic Medical Records capability, implementing a central Medical Records Repository where all clinics could participate. Additionally, this Repository would integrate with the Repository already in use at four of the key hospitals in the District, as well as integrating all relevant DOH programs and systems into a Medical Patient and Client Records sharing capability.
The PDH will allow DOH to put into place key capabilities that will (1) enhance chronic disease management and utilization control; (2) increase quality of care and provider decision making; (3) lower costs of care through claims evaluation and payer optimization; and (4) enable all participants to better analyze outcomes and trends in disease and patient characteristics and in- demand services. DOH would use Medicaid Transformation Grant funds to develop the following business capabilities:
- Integrate patient data so DOH can expand its ability to perform analysis on all populations and individuals served by the Department and those who are served by other organizations participating in this effort (6 neighborhood clinics, 4 hospitals, and DOH programs).
- Enable community health centers to coordinate health services delivery with other participating clinics and area hospitals,
- Improve quality in medical decision making through secure exchange of accurate and comprehensive patient health information and through patient-centered and outcome driven analytical capabilities.
Using grant funds, these goals will be facilitated through the implementation of a Patient Data Hub comprised of the following major technical services:
- DC-wide clinical informatics and analysis capabilities
- Master Patient Index (MPI) and related data integration services
- Enterprise Services Bus infrastructure
These services would enable the following key capabilities:
- Patient Care: Medicaid patients medical information (in linked systems) will be accessible at the point of care including clinics, hospitals, school nurses, DOH facilities, Medicaid care managers, etc.
- Management of Care, Outcomes, Costs: Patient data will be accessible for analyses, studies, evaluations, care and outcome management, and care cost management
