Health Information Exchange for Emergency Medical Services

This project incorporates two critical components of the health care system into the health information exchange landscape--public health disaster response and emergency medical services (EMS).  The project develops a Patient Unified Lookup System for Emergencies (PULSE) plus EMS (+EMS).  Together the “PULSE +EMS” proposal establishes interoperability and exchange of clinically relevant patient information in disasters, and during daily emergency medical treatment and transport.  Together, the PULSE +EMS project improves clinical decision making and transitions of care between ambulance and hospital healthcare providers, and supports longitudinal patient records.  

The PULSE component allows health professionals the availability of patient health information from multiple HIOs, during disasters, when patients are transported to areas or health networks outside of their normal delivery system.  This project uses Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE) standards to connect health systems and HIOs to an interoperability broker that is accessed via a web portal user interface using Single Sign On capability. The portal is activated during a disaster. Healthcare professionals employed by health systems or participating with HIOs have access to patient records through their existing systems.  Also, eligible professionals and other authorized disaster healthcare professionals, preregistered through the California DHV system can access the portal when at an alternate care site, or mobile field hospital. 

EMS provides entry, typically through 9-1-1, into the emergency medical care system and provides evaluation, treatment, and transportation of patients to a hospital emergency department, or trauma, heart attack, or stroke center.  The +EMS component develops exchange between ambulances and hospitals to provide patient health information during daily emergency medical care, to include the return of clinically-relevant patient information to paramedics.