“Having worked in both a MEDITECH environment with and without an interface engine, with Corepoint Integration Engine, we have much more control over our interfaces.”
Meritus Health is located in Hagerstown, Maryland at the crossroads of Western Maryland, southern Pennsylvania, and the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia. With more than 340 beds, it is the largest healthcare provider in Washington County.
Customer Challenges
Part of Meritus Health’s mission is to provide leadership and responsiveness for their community’s healthcare needs includes creating and enhancing healthcare through an integrated delivery system. To improve upon their existing integration efforts and establish a better foundation for connecting to physician offices, as well as optimizing their MEDITECH environment, a more capable interface engine was required.
Customer Solution
Meritus Health selected Corepoint Integration Engine as the solution to replace their existing interface engine. Initially, they used it to manage about 50 connections and exchange many types of clinical data to systems including:
- Misys/AllScripts and MediNotes
- Several ADT feeds and orders interfaces going from MEDITECH to various vendor systems
- Results from vendor systems into MEDITECH
- Lab results interfaces from MEDITECH to physician offices
- Billing interfaces
- PACS interface
Meritus Health Insights
The following insights are provided by Robert Close, Applications Manager, and Bob Karlin, Application Analyst:
We were having difficulties with our previous interface engine,” said Robert Close. Therefore, a decision was made to evaluate and find a replacement interface engine. Part of Meritus Health’s evaluation process was to attend the three-day web-based training for Corepoint Integration Engine. The quality of the training on both the engine as well as HL7 helped the hospital make their decision with confidence. Bob Karlin reported, “Because of the ease of use, monitoring tools, alerting and notification features, along with the ability to access and review message logs based on our preferences, we selected Corepoint.”
Implementation:
The initial implementation plan included writing 40 interfaces. Based on prior experiences, Meritus Health budgeted four weeks to complete that process. “Once Corepoint Integration Engine was selected, we began using their development and testing environment to configure each interface,” said Close. The ability of Corepoint Integration Engine to test interfaces while they are being configured enabled the 40 interfaces to be completed in just two weeks. According to Karlin, “With Corepoint Integration Engine, it’s all really user-friendly to build and test interfaces yet very robust in message processing.”
Ease of Use & Support:
“It’s never enjoyable when an interface connection breaks. With Corepoint Integration Engine though, I know that I can access the message logs and quickly identify the source of the problem and resolve it,” said Close.
Close continued, “We use alerts so that if the queue depth reaches a certain threshold, or if there is a stopped connection, several people are notified so that the problem can be identified and corrected.
Karlin offered, “Our previous engine had considerable problems with ‘non standard’ messages (message structure, format, etc) that are easily resolved with Corepoint Integration Engine. And I love the ‘fix all’ button.”
Karlin explained, “Corepoint support is great, but honestly, the engine is so easy to use, we mostly use support for consultation than actual support. During projects that have required ‘heavy lifting’, though, everyone we’ve dealt with has been both helpful and responsive.”
About Interface Engines in MEDITECH Environments:
Close summarized, “Having worked in both a MEDITECH environment with and without an interface engine, with Corepoint Integration Engine, we have much more control over our interfaces. If data needs to be moved or manipulated, we can make changes without spending the time and money that would be needed if we had to depend on vendors to do it for us. There’s no question, Corepoint Integration Engine will give you more control, better performance and save you time and money.”
