Event detection: a clinical notification service on a health information exchange platform

Notifying ambulatory providers when their patients visit the hospital is a simple concept but potentially a powerful tool for improving care coordination. A health information exchange (HIE) can provide automatic notifications to its members by building services on top of their existing infrastructure. NYCLIX, Inc., a functioning HIE in New York City, has developed a system that detects hospital admissions, discharges and emergency department visits and notifies their providers. The system has been in use since November 2010. Out of 63,305 patients enrolled 6,913 (11%) had one or more events in the study period and on average there were 238 events per day. While event notifications have a clinical value, their use also involves non-clinical care coordination; new workflows should be designed to incorporate a broader care team in their use. This paper describes the user requirements for the notification system, system design, current status, lessons learned and future directions.