California Clinical Data Project
Sponsored by the California HealthCare Foundation (CHCF), this project seeks to improve chronic disease care in California through more effective use of information technology. A critical element of the project is the development and promotion of state-wide standards for transmitting pharmacy and laboratory data to clinical data warehouses. CHCF engaged Sujansky & Associates to direct this standards activity by driving the technical content of the standards and coordinating the input of various stakeholders across the industry. The standards are based on existing messaging and terminology standards (including HL7, NCPDP, LOINC, and NDC), but have combined these elements in a way that provides true "plug-and-play" interoperability. More information about the California Clinical Data Project is available at www.CalinxStandards.org.

EMR Vendors

• A vendor of electronic medical record software engaged Sujansky & Associates to develop a comprehensive information model for the company's products, based on the SNOMED CT clinical terminology. The goals of the model were to support powerful reporting and decision-support capabilities based on electronic health data collected during clinical care. The project entailed the analysis and extension of SNOMED CT using the terminology-editing tool LE (Health Language, Inc.). Deliverables from this project included the formal specification of a new information model, as well as a database design for storing and analyzing captured clinical data.



• Sujansky & Associates developed an Extraction-Transformation-Loading (ETL) capability to populate a relational data warehouse from an object-oriented clinical database. The ETL capability used XML representations of clinical data objects and XSLT style sheets to perform the required data transformations. The prototype system that we developed formed the basis for a subsequent production implementation.



• An EMR vendor engaged Sujansky & Associates to assist in designing a capability to order lab tests and report lab results based on the HL7 interchange standard. The work entailed mapping of data elements in the vendor's application and database to fields in relevant HL7 messages.

First DataBank
Sujansky & Associates was engaged by First DataBank, a large vendor of drug databases and knowledge bases, to conduct research on the design of a new product offering related to electronic prescribing. The project entailed interviews with existing and prospective First DataBank customers and an evaluation of First DataBank's current product features. The engagement culminated in the delivery of a detailed requirements document, which was used to inform the subsequent design and implementation of the OrderView CPOE product.

Santa Barbara County Care Data Exchange
The CDE is a nationally recognized project to make key patient data available, conveniently and securely, to caregivers across an entire health care community. The sponsors of the project have engaged Sujansky & Associates to provide a range of consulting services related to the technical and organizational aspects of the project. Specific deliverables have included a detailed assessment of the underlying technology (including Master Patient Index services and data-integration processes), as well as a formulation of policies and procedures for securely and reliably operating the CDE. More information about the Santa Barbara County Care Data Exchange: http://www.chcf.org/documents/ihealth/SBCCDEInterimReport.pdf