St. Joseph Health Selects InterSystems HealthShare To Deliver Breakthroughs In Clinical Outcomes, Patient Engagement

Health Informatics Platform Enables Strategic Interoperability Across Three Regions

InterSystems Corporation, a global leader in software for connected care, announced that St. Joseph Health (SJH), an integrated healthcare delivery system serving patients in California, Texas and New Mexico, has selected InterSystems HealthShare as its health informatics platform. SJH is relying on HealthShare to engage and connect its provider and patient communities to improve health outcomes, inspire and encourage healthy behaviors, and create a successful environment for accountable care.

Data-Driven Initiative
Like many large healthcare systems, SJH has faced multiple challenges in integrating and sharing data across its many hospitals and continuum of care providers. Implementing and maintaining point-to-point interfaces was becoming a constraint on available technology resources, and this approach was not scalable. In addition, its legacy integration engine lacked the features and tools to support strategic objectives.

As part of a strategic “Data-Driven Initiative,” HealthShare initially will enable SJH to liberate data from data silos throughout the organization and community, build user-centered tools and workflows that improve clinical outcomes, and exceed user expectations while protecting capital and reducing ongoing costs.

“Interoperability is strategic for us, because it will enable SJH to derive value from its data. Healthshare is enabling the use of a single hub from which data can be collected, aggregated and distributed to any destination,” said Bill Russell, SJH Chief Information Officer. “HealthShare offers a robust integration platform that will support standardization and consolidation of the SJH electronic medical record (EMR) along with its interfaces.

“HealthShare not only supports the integration requirements of a typical health information exchange (HIE), but also provides a software development environment that SJH and its partners can leverage to build clinical and patient portals, with actionable and innovative workflows that improve the user experience. This will help us extend our vision to the patient and provider community,” Russell added.

Rapid Rollout
Reflecting the high priority placed on achieving its strategic objectives, SJH is moving forward aggressively with the HealthShare implementation. The interface engine used in Texas and New Mexico was replaced last September. The HealthShare-based HIE, which functions as a data aggregation platform, went live in January 2014, and the interface engine in Northern California was replaced in mid-February. The current focus is on going live in Southern California by mid-year.

Russell views InterSystems and Ready Computing, its implementation partner, as members of the SJH team. “They provide complementary skills and a positive attitude,” he said. “They have aligned well with the SJH vision and provided the resources and thought leadership to support our goals.”

Paul Grabscheid, InterSystems Vice President of Strategic Planning, said, “SJH recognizes that the future lies in empowering providers and patients with the information they need to make the best healthcare decisions. We are very pleased that SJH selected HealthShare to enable its technology vision of building an innovation platform across the continuum of care.”

About St. Joseph Health
St. Joseph Health (SJH) is a $5.5B not-for-profit integrated Catholic health care delivery system sponsored by the St. Joseph Health Ministry. SJH’s comprehensive range of services includes 16 acute care hospitals, home health agencies, hospice care, outpatient services, skilled nursing facilities, community clinics and physician organizations throughout California, Texas, and New Mexico. Collectively, the 24,000 dedicated employees and 6,000 outstanding SJH physicians deliver care to more than 137,000 inpatients and 3.6 million outpatients each year. Throughout its comprehensive regions of care, SJH strives to provide perfect care while building the healthiest communities and ensuring every encounter is sacred. These extraordinary efforts have been recognized locally and nationally, including distinctions in US News & World Report and Magnet recognition. Guided by the traditions of its founders, the Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange, SJH is committed to maintaining a continuum of care that matches the diverse needs of its communities. For more information, visit www.stjoe.org.

About InterSystems
InterSystems develops advanced data management, strategic interoperability, and analytics platforms that enable clients and partners to make breakthroughs in healthcare, financial services, government, and dozens of other industries. In selected countries, InterSystems also offers unified healthcare applications, based on its core technologies, that deliver breakthroughs across the continuum of care. With a passion for excellence and a focus on client success, InterSystems is a privately held company headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts (USA), and its software products are used daily by millions of people in more than 100 countries. For more information, visit InterSystems.com.