Addressing Critical Needs in Maternal and
Infant Health Data Sharing
TOPEKA,
Kan., July 9, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- KONZA
National Network, a non-profit Health Information Exchange (HIE)
and Designated Qualified Health Information Network (QHIN™), today
announced the launch of Birth Connect to provide timely alerts to
OB/GYNs that a birth parent under their care has delivered a
baby.
The United States has the
highest maternal mortality rate among high-income countries,
according to a March 2024 report by
The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information
Technology (ONC). The report, "Interoperability of Maternity Health
Care Records," emphasizes the critical need for comprehensive and
timely data sharing to improve health outcomes for birth parents
and newborns.
KONZA's Birth Connect directly responds to this call by linking
medical records of birth parents and newborns, ensuring that
healthcare providers in the full continuum of care have access to
complete and accurate data. This enables quicker response to
potential complications and supports health needs in the early
stages of life, while ensuring effective care coordination,
seamless post-birth transition and continuous health
monitoring.
Bridging the Data Gap
This innovative, first-of-its-kind product solves several
persistent problems:
- Due to interoperability issues between electronic medical
records, physicians outside the birth hospital may not know about
the birth for days or weeks, causing critical delays in providing
essential immediate care for both parent and baby.
- Infant medical record loss is common because newborns are often
initially named "Baby Girl/Baby Boy + parent's last name," making
it difficult to link records once the baby receives a full
name.
- Accurate birth outcomes are essential for quality improvement
initiatives, as incomplete data prevents a full understanding of
issues related to poor outcomes.
Key Features
- Birth Connect facilitates advanced data collection to ensure
high-quality data sharing, reducing the risk of infant medical
record loss and supporting quality improvement initiatives.
- Birth Connect's timely alerts for NICU admissions enhances
newborn safety and care quality while enabling healthcare providers
to analyze prevention efforts and identify public health
trends.
- The integration of Birth Connect streamlines Quality Reporting,
reducing the manual workload typically associated with it, while
improving the workflow for healthcare providers to ensure critical
health information is promptly available.
The Pilot Site
KONZA worked closely with Hartford HealthCare in Connecticut to develop and pilot Birth Connect
throughout 2023 and early 2024.
"Hartford Healthcare was honored to be the pilot site for
KONZA's Birth Connect product," said Lisa
Shubitowski, Interoperability Solutions Architect. "Birth
Connect allows us to utilize existing technologies in new and
innovative ways to communicate critical health events to healthcare
providers in the community in support of our patients."
Unique Alerting Use Cases
KONZA is committed to investing in the development of products
that leverage HIE data to address emerging critical health and
communication challenges that are national in scope and too complex
for a single system to manage.
"Alerting products are rapidly evolving," said Laura McCrary, EdD, President and CEO of KONZA.
"Traditionally used to notify providers of patient admissions and
discharges, these systems can now alert providers about critical
health events or high-risk situations. KONZA has now developed and
deployed three key clinical alert modalities, and we are
collaborating with University of
Connecticut researchers on the development of a fourth for
suicide prevention."
KONZA's other alerting products include:
- Multidrug-Resistant Organism (MDRO) Alerts: Notify
hospitals of active MDRO diagnoses, enabling rapid implementation
of transmission-based safety protocols.
- Behavioral Health Alerts: Provide clinicians with
critical insights into a patient's behavioral health history and
ICD diagnosis codes after emergency department visits for mental
illness.
About KONZA: www.konza.org
Contact:
Katy Brown
785-220-1535 | kbrown@konza.org
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SOURCE KONZA National Network