Redwood MedNet :: Clinical Messaging Service

What Is Clinical Messaging?
A clinical message service provides a secure, electronic infrastructure to automate the delivery of clinical health data to any site where patient care decisions are made. For example, a clinical message service can automate result reporting from a laboratory to a clinic (i.e., replace a fax or other printed result with an electronic file). A clinical message service can also enable secure electronic forwarding of consultation reports between clinicians to facilitate patient care. Many urban health care communities across the country have active clinical messaging services (e.g., Cincinnati, Indianapolis, etc.). Generally, these clinical messaging environments are accompanied by large hospitals (i.e., hundreds of beds), robust IPAs (i.e., thousands of physician members) and group practices with hundreds of providers. That is, clinical messaging services thrive in densely populated areas with a robust health care system.

Knowing the above, is it practical to operate a clinical message service in a thinly populated rural region like Mendocino?

A Rural Clinical Messaging Service
In July 2005 Redwood MedNet was formed as a new nonprofit health information exchange. A primary goal of Redwood MedNet was to build a clinical message service appropriately scaled to our rual region. In April 2008 Redwood MedNet launched the laboratory results delivery portion of a new clinical message service. The new service has the following minimum technology requirements for participation by any local medical practice:

1. An Internet connection with
2. a standard web browser and
3. the ability to print from a web site

With this approach, practices meeting these requirements would incur no direct software or message transaction costs to participate in the start up phase of the Redwood MedNet clinical message service, which is grant funded through 2009. However, participating practices must inevitably invest some staff time planning their implementation of the clinical message service.

Redwood MedNet Clinical Messaging Timeline
NOVEMBER 2004 -- Carl Henning, M.D., and Will Ross propose a community clinical message service to the medical staff at Ukiah Valley Medical Center.

OCTOBER 2005 -- Redwood MedNet receives a grant from the Blue Shield of California Foundation to conduct a pilot test of a clinical message service in the Mendocino County region. The clinical message project is managed by Mendocino Informatics.

JANUARY 2006 -- Redwood MedNet conducts a Physician Technology Survey, supported by the Foundation for Medical Care. The survey is mailed to all 200 physicians in Lake and Mendocino counties. In response to the survey, twenty-five physicians volunteer to participate in the proposed clinical message service.

FEBRUARY 2007 -- Redwood MedNet selects the Mirth Project, an open source HL7 Integration Engine for use in the clinical messaging infrastructure.

APRIL 2007 -- Test delivery of lab results begins from the laboratory at Healdsburg District Hospital to Alliance Medical Center, an FQHC in Healdsburg.

OCTOBER 2007 -- Planning discussions began with Ukiah Valley Medical Center to deliver results from their laboratory via the Redwood MedNet service.

NOVEMBER 2007 -- Redwood MedNet conducts successful 1,000 unit test of the clinical messaging service.

APRIL 2008 -- Redwood MedNet results delivery service released to production at Alliance Medical Center in Healdsburg, at a volume of approximately 1,600 lab tests per month.

NOVEMBER 2008 -- Results delivery by Redwood MedNet begins from a second laboratory, Quest Diagnostics.


	HOME \| NEWS \| PROJECTS \| RESOURCES \| ABOUT \| GLOSSARY
	HOME > PROJECTS > CLINICAL MESSAGING SERVICE

	Clinical Messaging Service What Is Clinical Messaging? A Rural Clinical Messaging Service Redwood MedNet Clinical Messaging Timeline Project Archive What Is Clinical Messaging? A clinical message service provides a secure, electronic infrastructure to automate the delivery of clinical health data to any site where patient care decisions are made. For example, a clinical message service can automate result reporting from a laboratory to a clinic (i.e., replace a fax or other printed result with an electronic file). A clinical message service can also enable secure electronic forwarding of consultation reports between clinicians to facilitate patient care. Many urban health care communities across the country have active clinical messaging services (e.g., Cincinnati, Indianapolis, etc.). Generally, these clinical messaging environments are accompanied by large hospitals (i.e., hundreds of beds), robust IPAs (i.e., thousands of physician members) and group practices with hundreds of providers. That is, clinical messaging services thrive in densely populated areas with a robust health care system. Knowing the above, is it practical to operate a clinical message service in a thinly populated rural region like Mendocino? Top of Page A Rural Clinical Messaging Service In July 2005 Redwood MedNet was formed as a new nonprofit health information exchange. A primary goal of Redwood MedNet was to build a clinical message service appropriately scaled to our rual region. In April 2008 Redwood MedNet launched the laboratory results delivery portion of a new clinical message service. The new service has the following minimum technology requirements for participation by any local medical practice: 1. An Internet connection with 2. a standard web browser and 3. the ability to print from a web site With this approach, practices meeting these requirements would incur no direct software or message transaction costs to participate in the start up phase of the Redwood MedNet clinical message service, which is grant funded through 2009. However, participating practices must inevitably invest some staff time planning their implementation of the clinical message service. Top of Page Redwood MedNet Clinical Messaging Timeline NOVEMBER 2004 -- Carl Henning, M.D., and Will Ross propose a community clinical message service to the medical staff at Ukiah Valley Medical Center. OCTOBER 2005 -- Redwood MedNet receives a grant from the Blue Shield of California Foundation to conduct a pilot test of a clinical message service in the Mendocino County region. The clinical message project is managed by Mendocino Informatics. JANUARY 2006 -- Redwood MedNet conducts a Physician Technology Survey, supported by the Foundation for Medical Care. The survey is mailed to all 200 physicians in Lake and Mendocino counties. In response to the survey, twenty-five physicians volunteer to participate in the proposed clinical message service. FEBRUARY 2007 -- Redwood MedNet selects the Mirth Project, an open source HL7 Integration Engine for use in the clinical messaging infrastructure. APRIL 2007 -- Test delivery of lab results begins from the laboratory at Healdsburg District Hospital to Alliance Medical Center, an FQHC in Healdsburg. OCTOBER 2007 -- Planning discussions began with Ukiah Valley Medical Center to deliver results from their laboratory via the Redwood MedNet service. NOVEMBER 2007 -- Redwood MedNet conducts successful 1,000 unit test of the clinical messaging service. APRIL 2008 -- Redwood MedNet results delivery service released to production at Alliance Medical Center in Healdsburg, at a volume of approximately 1,600 lab tests per month. NOVEMBER 2008 -- Results delivery by Redwood MedNet begins from a second laboratory, Quest Diagnostics. JANUARY 2009 -- Results delivery by Redwood MedNet tops 4,000 tests per month.

	Top of Page This cumulative work from 2005 - 2009 is licensed by Redwood MedNet under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License. Some rights reserved. Redwood MedNet 216 West Perkins St., Suite 206, Ukiah, California 95482 707.462.6369 VOICE -- 707.462.5015 FAX Last Update: 16 October 2009