Core HIE Rollout
Key milestones, dependencies, timeframes, and resources
The HealthUnity HIE deployment process has been fine-tuned over several large HIE deployments across the country. Our deployment team is typically comprised of a team of resources that includes personnel from the HealthUnity professional services team, a systems integrator and the customer’s resources. We bring tremendous expertise on team formation, process management and project execution.
Shown below is a typical high-level project plan that illustrates the overall process without cluttering the discussion with too much detail.
Key Milestones
| Milestone | Definition |
|---|---|
| REQUIREMENTS SPECIFICATION AND READINESS | |
| Governance |
Final recommendation from HIE that incorporates federal and state regulations, data sharing agreements, and consent policy. This is primarily a HIE responsibility. The HealthUnity team will assist and guide based on our experience elsewhere. Many hospital-based HIEs are setting up HIEs that operate under the authority provided by HIPAA for treatment purposes. |
| Finalize List of Prioritized Use Cases | The final list of prioritized use cases. This is primarily a HIE responsibility. The HU team will assist and guide based on our experience elsewhere. For the list of available use cases, please refer to Chapter 6. |
| Finalize List of Prioritized Participants (pilot, test) | Two or three participants (providers and their pilot patients) who will test the HIE infrastructure and help customer assess its readiness for broader roll out. |
| Technical Functional Specification and base project plan | Document that describes the overall deployment functionality, the resources and the project plan. |
| TEST DEPLOYMENT AND FINE TUNING | |
| Interface readiness and test feeds | Finalize list of applications that need to be interfaced from participant locations. Get test feeds. |
| Test Hardware Deployment | Deploy a test HIE infrastructure that implements all of the key components in which customer is interested. |
| Test Application Deployment | Deploy a test HIE software that implements all of the key use cases that customer has prioritized. |
| Test system user acceptance testing and sign off | Sign off of tested configuration for production roll out. |
| PRODUCTION DEPLOYMENT PHASE | |
| Interface readiness and test feeds | Finalize list of applications that need to be interfaced from participant locations. Get test feeds. |
| Test Hardware Deployment | Deploy a test HIE infrastructure that implements all of the key components in which customer is interested. |
| Test Application Deployment | Deploy a test HIE software that implements all of the key use cases that customer has prioritized. |
| Test system user acceptance testing and sign off | Sign off of tested configuration for production roll out |
Dependencies
- Business activities precede the test deployment. Finalization of the test deployment is dependent on governance related matters being clearly defined and documented.
- Able, ready and willing pilot participant organizations (in cases where multiple organizations are involved).
- Appropriate personnel from customer, participating providers, outside technology suppliers (e.g. hardware, network equipment).
- EHR vendors and their personnel, in cases where interfacing is dictated by the use cases chosen.
- Outside service providers such as RxHub, Surescripts, etc.
- If third-party services are chosen for specific services, then, we will need to work within their timelines and constraints.
- Other dependencies may arise and will be identified during the planning phase of the project.
Typical Timeframes
The exact timeframes will be determined in consultation with Customer and its prioritization. Below are some general guidelines.
| Phase | Approximate Timeframes |
|---|---|
| Requirements Specification and Readiness | 1 to 3 Months |
| Test Deployment and Fine Tuning Phase | 1 Month to 2 Months |
| Production Deployment Phase | 2 Months to 4 Months |
Training
Product training of all levels and flavors are available to our customer resources. Several types of training can be provided to prepare users, content authors, supervisors and managers for the new platform. The Project Team will coordinate with the HIE team to develop a training plan incorporating the appropriate training methods. These training methods may include, but are not limited to:
| Training Method | Training Description |
|---|---|
| Informal Knowledge Transfer | Project resources consist of both HU and customer personnel from the beginning of the project to ensure informal knowledge transfer starts on day one. It is important that the customer resources see and understand how the solution is built from the beginning. |
| Formal Knowledge Transfer | Throughout the project formal knowledge transfer session such as one-on-one training, group training, and brown-bag sessions on specific topics are provided. |
| End User Training | Various audiences of end-users are identified and training specific to their use of the platform and related technologies is created to ensure the recipients of the platform are ready to use it near the end of the project. |
| Governance Oversight Training | Governance policies are created during the project implementation, and training on how to enforce, monitor, and modify these in production is provided. |
| Operations Management Training | Operational processes are created during the project implementation, and training on system health monitoring, and procedures to ensure fault tolerance in production is provided. |