ResMed‘s AirView compliance management platform (previously EasyCare Online) is now securely connected to Fairview Health Services’ Epic EHR system, enabling up to date delivery of sleep apnea patient data for use by Fairview’s medical staff. Launched in June 2014, the integration of this data supports streamlined workflow, reduced cost, improved quality and responsiveness of therapy, and automated access to data for analytical and clinical outcome decision support.

Data generated by PAP devices, such as the ResMed S9 series and AirSense 10 series, enables medical professionals to remotely monitor patient therapy compliance to take appropriate action based on specific outcomes. With ResMed’s AirView connection to Fairview’s Epic EHR, clinicians now have access to patient PAP therapy data within their EHR system, eliminating the need to log in to multiple patient management systems to view patient outcomes.

Key features enabled with this solution include:

  • Boarding of sleep therapy patients from the EHR into the ResMed AirView patient management system
  • Daily updating of PAP therapy effectiveness data from the patient’s home directly into the EHR via AirView
  • Sleep health therapy management workflow and tracking tools embedded in the EHR, displaying key patient PAP metrics for various time intervals, customized to meet the needs of Fairview clinicians
  • Creation of a secure patient data warehouse to support advanced analytics such as the impact of sleep apnea on comorbid conditions

“The healthcare system is under significant pressure to drive down the cost of care while still delivering exceptional patient outcomes,” says Raj Sodhi, vice president, Healthcare Informatics at ResMed, in a release. “Sleep apnea represents one area where technology integration can play a key role in making that happen. The condition has clear links to serious and costly comorbidities, but it also has a well-understood compliance model that can be supported using existing technology. Our work with Fairview to integrate sleep therapy data into Epic delivers a technological framework for streamlining processes and driving efficiencies. This integration also provides a solid foundation to further our hospital-to-home strategy for both respiratory care and cardiorespiratory patients, since device data for these conditions can be presented within an EHR or other healthcare application in a similar fashion. When technology can reduce operational tasks and free healthcare professionals to spend more time with patients, as we’ve done here, everyone benefits.”

Interoperability of healthcare systems is a growing and important trend in the industry. From diagnosis to ongoing therapy, ResMed offers a solution suite that supports sleep and respiratory patients across the care continuum, including the recently announced AirSense 10 series of devices which can provide daily therapy information to healthcare applications such as EHRs via built-in cellular communication.

“Now that patients’ sleep therapy data is streamlined into our existing EHR system, our physicians have a better understanding of the full picture of their patients’ health, allowing them to provide better and more efficient care,” says Dr Conrad Iber, a pulmonologist, critical care physician, and sleep medicine physician at Fairview Healthcare System. “This seamless interoperability of patient data is crucial to our ongoing efforts to improve care and maximize resources.”