By - The Texas Health Services Authority (THSA) has launched the Patient Unified Lookup System for Emergencies (PULSE) platform to enhance health data exchange during emergencies.
Developed by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) in 2014, Texas adopted PULSE after the state endured tropical storm Marco, the COVID-19 pandemic, and Hurricane Laura.
PULSE, a cloud-based solution, enables emergency responders to search for health information, such as medications, diagnoses, allergies, and lab results on disaster victims. The solution limits access to only authorized personnel and a “view only” format for medical information.
The PULSE platform works by aggregating data from health information exchanges in specific geographic regions and makes the data mobile-optimized. This makes it easier for first responders and volunteers to access health data that is often difficult to reach during emergencies such as pandemics, hurricanes, terrorist attacks, or tornadoes.
“Soon our authorized, vetted, and trained disaster response personnel will have a secure, statewide, and standardized means to access patient information through a smartphone or tablet, which will significantly speed up the delivery of care during emergencies,” George Gooch, CEO of THSA, said in a statement.
The Sequoia Project launched PULSE during the 2017 California wildfires. The Sequoia Project and Audacious Inquiry (Ai), a health IT company that facilitates interoperability, work together to expand the solution to other regions by connecting it to other health information exchanges.
“PULSE is a game-changer for how we access disparate and siloed health information networks at the local, state, and national levels,” said Nora Belcher, executive director of the Texas e-Health Alliance.
THSA adopted the newest PULSE platform, PULSE Enterprise, that includes a selected patient medical history list, a family reunification capability, and both auditing and reporting capabilities, according to Ai.
The family reunification capability aims to aid the state’s efforts during hurricanes for displaced individuals. The capability will streamline patient data exchange with Texas’ Emergency Department Encounter Notifications (EDEN) system to ensure officials can locate displaced individuals at either a shelter, hospital, or alternative care facility.
“Texas has been a key contributing member of The Sequoia Project's Emergency Preparedness Advisory Workgroup responsible for recommending best practices as they pertain to programs like PULSE,” Debbie Condrey, chief information officer of The Sequoia Project, said in a statement.
“During times such as these, it is important that all states look toward implementing technologies and programs that provide support to citizens during emergencies.”
In March 2019, Texas Health Services Authority (THSA) requested $300,000 from the Texas House of Representatives Public Health Committee to deploy PULSE across the state.
PULSE grew out of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, and the hurricane was also a prime reason for establishing THSA.
When Hurricane Harvey hit in 2017, Texas did not have PULSE capability and only California had limited PULSE capabilities. Following Hurricane Harvey, Florida, North Carolina, and Texas inquired about adding the platform.
“Just after Hurricane Katrina, we had a lot of people showing up to shelters with medications they had fished out of their flooded homes,” Gooch said last year. “They would say things like, ‘I think the pink pills are for my heart.’ That’s when Texas realized that we needed a secure electronic means to exchange patient health information.”
“Fast forward to Hurricane Harvey, we realized that health information exchange generally had advanced leaps and bounds, but as far as it pertained to natural disaster response, we hadn’t moved the needle very much,” he said.
While the platform primarily aids providers with natural disasters, it also helps healthcare professionals during a pandemic, such as COVID-19. Due to the overcrowding of hospitals and patients being forced into unfamiliar health facilities, the need for a strong health data exchange is crucial.
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October 22, 2020
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Texas Launches PULSE Platform for Emergency Health Data Exchange - EHRIntelligence.com
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