Geisinger and Merck Creating Apps Streamlining Healthcare

With their recent partnership, Geisinger and Merck are planning to launch two new healthcare apps that utilize Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) to integrate health data from various EHR systems. These apps are the product of the two companies ongoing relationship and aim to integrate directly into the clinical setting and facilitate processes.

The Family Caregiver, one of these apps, is designed to provide two-way communication between the medical professionals to enhance coordination of patient care. The second app, MedTrue, aims to better incorporate data regarding patient medications into clinical systems to streamline patient medication documenting.

These apps will be available to both patients and providers and can function within the patients own home. They utilize Substitutable Medical Applications and Reusable Technologies (SMART) on FHIR to give both the patient and physician access to patient healthcare records from various EHRs.

“Our collaboration with Merck has allowed both of our organizations to leverage our individual strengths, expertise and resources to better enable a shared decision-making process through healthcare technology,” said David Ledbetter, Executive Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer of Geisinger.

The Family Caregiver app also includes a calendar, patient-managed medication scheduler, and a journal feature that allows patients and providers to enter notes and narrative accounts of clinical visits. Patients are also able to set preferences, values, and prioritize activities in treatment plans. Providers can enter their roles and contact numbers into the app to ensure accuracy in provider data.

MedTrue incorporates medication fill data, patient web interfaces verification of patient reported medications and adherences. The app also includes a healthcare team interface, available through the EHR system to enable access to health data in real time.

“We know from prior work that about 70% of our medication lists are inaccurate, and these inaccuracies can lead to medical errors,” said Mike Evans, Geisinger Chief Pharmacy Officer. “The MedTrue application provides an interface that seeks to clean up medication lists, so patients and providers can be on the same page regarding medication use and better care decisions can be made,” he stated.

Geisinger and Merck Unveil New Applications Developed to Help Improve Patient Communication and Care Delivery https://t.co/vnuhGLN1Hk

— Geisinger Research (@GeisingerRsrch) August 14, 2018

Source:EHR Intelligence