Iron Mountain Incorporated, a the storage and information management company, and QuadraMed®, a provider of healthcare technologies and services, have entered into a strategic relationship to provide enterprise master person index (EMPI) solutions to help healthcare organizations identify and eliminate duplicate and fragmented records within and across their various patient database(s). The partnership will help healthcare organizations strengthen their ability to meet regulatory compliance standards, reduce the costs and risks associated with patient information management, and prepare for data-intensive strategic initiatives such as population health analytics.
Growing Need for Accurate EMPI
As healthcare organizations wrestle with frequent regulatory changes, heightened concerns about patient safety and quality of care, and demands for greater transparency, the ability to properly manage information – from creation and access through retention and destruction – can help solve these challenges. One of the most critical needs is an accurate EMPI, which is essential as healthcare organizations shift to an enterprise-wide focus on care delivery, system interoperability, data sharing and analytics, and the stringent regulatory and reporting requirements of meaningful use.
Gaining control of information through a comprehensive governance program helps healthcare organizations properly manage their business and clinical information for patient care and regulatory compliance. Additionally, healthcare providers can reduce the cost of managing their information by securely destroying destruction-eligible records and moving archival records off-site, freeing up both personnel and valuable real estate for clinical operations that can improve the patient care experience. The combination of Iron Mountain’s expertise and information governance solutions and QuadraMed’s industry-leading EMPI tools and technology, advanced search algorithms, and proven workflow processes will help healthcare organizations take this important step.
“Accurate patient and provider identification is a core component of an information governance strategy for healthcare organizations,” said Vicki Wheatley, RHIA, executive vice president, QuadraMed in an official statement. “Through improved data integrity and availability of information, EMPI solutions provide the foundation for efficient operations and optimal patient safety.”
