Does VisibleHand Integrate with my EHR?
Does VisibleHand Integrate with my EHR?
Yes.
So why do most VisibleHand facilities elect NOT to integrate?
Before digging into the longer answer, let me set the stage.
Yes - we do integrate with EHR's upon a clients request. We're a modern tech company and to the extent that a client asks us to integrate - we're happy to oblige. To date, we have had 100% success integrating with EHRs. Almost all of our customers utilize an EHR for their patient data. Most customers initially say that they want to explore an integration. And from a VisibleHand-centered perspective, integrating with an EHR would make our product ‘stickier.’ The integrations are cheap & reliable.
Why then, are we only asked to integrate with about 10% of our clients? The reasons tend to fall into four main themes: misunderstanding, discoverability, simplicity, and value.
Misunderstanding
Folks have different ideas in mind when they say “integrate”:
Keeping census data in sync
Keeping user accounts in sync
Sending safety checks back to the patient record
Syncing clinical orders
It makes sense. For any given admission, the clinical team should ideally intake the patient into one system rather than duplicate intake across systems. Similarly, data should appear in one place for ease of use.
So, what’s different about VisibleHand?
VisibleHand often uses data that source systems don’t have, such as wristband information, Q observation levels, precautions, and safety-related notes. On the back end, we generate a unique dataset that is often best left separate from the patient’s clinical record (more on this in the "Discoverability" section below).
The key misunderstanding is that VisibleHand and the EHR are like a Venn diagram with only partial overlap. While an integration can provide utility, it doesn’t deliver the same transformative value as a more traditional integration like an eMAR.
Discoverability
The biggest reason that clients keep VisibleHand separate from their EH has to do with discoverability. If a surveyor, auditor, agency is reviewing patient clinical records and they happen to notice that a Q15 check was late or missing, they have a duty to follow that thread and dig deeper even though Q15 compliance was not the primary reason for their inquiry. This discoverability puts risk onto the facilities because it increases external exposure of their records.
Alternatively, when safety records are stored within VisibleHand, the surveyor must request access to safety check documentation. VisibleHand organizes data into layers that allow our clients to expose only need-to-know information to surveyors when asked. So even within the safety data our clients have levers at their disposal that put them in control of what information they want to expose.
Ultimately, we are aligned with auditors in that our mission is to improve safety for patients and we have rich information available for auditors - beyond anything available through the old paper and EHR systems. By giving our clients options about how to use and expose their data they reduce citation risk and ultimately elect to keep the data separate from their EHR clinical records in most cases.
Simplicity
A common reason clients opt for integration is the complexity of poorly designed systems that require staff training for even basic tasks like admission or discharge. VisibleHand, however, is built differently. Our workflows are so intuitive and efficient that users can complete an admission in under 30 seconds without training.
This simplicity often eliminates the need for integration. In fact - integrating with an EHR can sometimes introduce complexity that wouldn’t exist if VisibleHand remained a standalone system. With integrated systems, users need to remember which system serves as the source-of-truth for each data field.
Patient Name? EHR
MR#? EHR
Bluetooth Beacon? VisibleHand
Q Level? VisibleHand/EHR
Bed Assignment? VisibleHand/EHR
Each EHR has different data fields that we can integrate, but this can create confusion for users and negate the simplicity that our system is designed to provide.
Value
The final decision of whether or not to integrate VisibleHand with an EHR often comes down to perceived value. The juice isn’t worth the squeeze.
An integration is a technical undertaking with custom development and ongoing maintenance. There are project costs incurred (from us, the vendor) and often from the EHR that total in the thousands of dollars. Integrations can often slow down launches - for this reason we only integrate after launching manually. We want customers to launch manually & learn workflows so that we can target the specific areas they want to integrate. In many cases they realize that everything is so smooth that we never revisit the integration.
Ultimately, most VisibleHand users decide that the perceived value of an integration just isn’t there. Not because integrations don’t work well, but because the value is already baked into our system to begin with.
So, Does VisibleHand Integrate with Your EHR?
Yes! (But you probably won’t want us to.)
Not convinced? Please reach out to us at VisibleHand if you have questions about integration with your specific EHR. We’re happy to discuss your unique case and help you determine whether integration is right for your goals and requirements.
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