Smile CDR Logo
TORONTO - July 8, 2021 - (Newswire.com)
Health Sciences South Carolina (HSSC) and Smile CDR, a leading health data storage and integration company, today announced the launch of VACTRAC, an interoperable health IT platform designed to help accelerate COVID-19 vaccination across the state of South Carolina. The state-of-the-art VACTRAC system will help eliminate technology obstacles within South Carolina's complex health networks by allowing health providers to quickly and securely collect current clinical health data on their patients' COVID-19 risk factors and expedite vaccinations for those still in need.
"Healthcare providers have been at the frontline of the COVID-19 pandemic, but disparate IT systems have been limiting their ability to quickly and easily identify high-risk patients who still need to be vaccinated," said Ken Deans, President of HSSC. "Our path forward is dependent upon our ability to quickly and efficiently ensure education and vaccinations are available to all South Carolinians, especially those with the highest need. By creating an interoperable solution, we are able to remove the barriers we were seeing with information transfer and accelerate vaccinations for those high-risk populations."
Prior to the introduction of VACTRAC, healthcare providers often had to sift through individual patient records to determine which patients were still in need of a vaccination. This effort was further complicated by the fact that many patients were vaccinated at various pharmacies or vaccine clinics, limiting the accuracy of the primary healthcare provider's health record. With the VACTRAC platform, which utilizes the State's cloud-based clinical data repository (CDR), patient records can be reviewed across health systems and en masse, allowing for expedited identification of high-risk patients in need of vaccination.
"Many states are faced with interoperability issues which are complicating COVID-19 vaccination rollouts," said Duncan Weatherston, Chief Executive Officer at Smile CDR. "The need for health data repositories to be standardized and interconnected so that patient data can be shared seamlessly and securely among hospitals, private providers, and payers has been made more apparent than ever during the pandemic. We are excited to be able to apply our best-in-class CDR technology to this program and to pave the way for a future with a more interconnected and informed healthcare system."
Interoperability, or the ease and security with which medical records and health information is transferred between provider systems, will be a key component to the success of COVID-19 vaccination programs. Primarily, it will allow physicians access to data about distribution and ensure herd immunity is not compromised in some communities. The enhancement of health information exchanges (HIEs) with these new technologies improves the overall availability and usefulness of immunization data for healthcare providers.
VACTRAC is currently being evaluated by the American Immunization Registry Association (AIRA). The application will also serve as a prototype for future population health-oriented cooperative engagements with South Carolina's health systems.
About Smile CDR
Smile CDR is a health technology company that reduces barriers between information and care for those who consume or provide healthcare services with complex information systems. We are on a mission to make it easier for health organizations of all sizes to gain control of their data and deliver interoperable applications quickly. Our data and integration platform includes a complete clinical data repository built around the HL7® FHIR® standard used for storing health records and supports all FHIR Resources. As a strategic partner, our products, professional services, and commercial support give organizations the edge they need to enable interoperability within their health systems using a standards-based solution that leverages the most proven FHIR implementation in the world. For more information, visit www.smilecdr.com.
About Health Sciences South Carolina
Health Sciences South Carolina (HSSC) was established in 2004 as the nation's first biomedical research collaborative. Today, its member organizations include seven of the state's largest health systems, including AnMed Health, Greenville Health System, McLeod Health, the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) Hospital Authority, Palmetto Health, Self Regional Healthcare, and Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System, as well as the state's largest research-intensive universities, including Clemson University, MUSC, and the University of South Carolina with its Schools of Medicine at Columbia and Greenville. The unique collaboration was formed with the vision of improving South Carolina's public health and economic well-being through research. Visit www.healthsciencessc.org.
Media Contacts
Lucy Railton
(800) 683-1318 x 712
lucy@smilecldr.com
Jessica Siebenschuh
(803) 544-4772
jsiebenschuh@healthsciencessc.org
Related Images
HSSC Logo
Press Release Service by Newswire.com
Original Source: South Carolina Launches VACTRAC, a New Technology Platform to Help Identify and Accelerate COVID-19 Vaccinations Among Vulnerable Populations
