The
Wisconsin
Statewide
Health
Information
Network
recently
updated
its
underlying
technical
infrastructure
and
community
health
record,
a
project
that’s
been
years
in
the
making.

WISHIN
2.0

rolled
out
at
the
start
of
the
month.
It
offers
enhanced
patient
search,
patient
matching
and
in-depth
clinical
data
views
to
the
2,000
care
sites
that
participate
in
the
statewide
health
information
exchange,
or
HIE.

“We’re
finally
here,”
CEO
Steve
Rottmann
told
Wisconsin
Health
News.
“What
this
means
is
that
we
can
bring
more
discrete
data
and
streamlined
access
to
clinical
information
in
real
time
within
a
clinician’s
workflow.
The
goal
is
to
reduce
clicks
and
have
greater
access
to
data
that
leads
to
better
patient
outcomes.”

Rottmann
said
the
revamped
system
has
technical
functionalities
that
set
the
stage
for
artificial
intelligence
capabilities,
higher
data
quality
and
connectivity
via
the
Trusted
Exchange
Framework
and
Common
Agreement,
or
TEFCA,
which
is
a
national
framework
for
exchanging
health
data.

He
anticipates
that
the
majority
of
their
users
will
start
using
WISHIN
2.0
in
the
next
month
or
so.

In
a
recent
interview,
Rottmann
talked
about
what’s
next
for
WISHIN
and
interoperability.

Edited
excerpts
are
below.

WHN:
How
does
this
revamped
system
improve
users’
experience?

Rottmann:
We’ve
been
able
to
incorporate
underlying
technology
that
easily
incorporates
into
a
clinician’s
workflow
within
their
(electronic
health
record).
As
I’m
looking
up
a
patient,
I
can
see
within
my
Epic,
Cerner
or
whatever
EHR
that
I
have.
I
can
also
extend
that
view
into
WISHIN
and
make
it
part
of
my
clinical
workflow,
and
that
will
help
in
decision-making.

With
that,
we’re
removing
clicks.
When
you
remove
clicks,
you
bring
back
greater
focus
to
the
patient
at
those
visits,
so
that
together
the
patient
and
the
provider
can
determine
what
that
care
plan
looks
like.
When
we
have
that
in
WISHIN,
we
can
make
that
readily
available
to
others
on
a
care
team.
It
starts
with
access.
If
the
users
find
the
system
not
sufficient,
clunky
or
too
many
clicks,
we’ve
already
lost.
That’s
been
our
goal:
to
flatten
the
environment
so
that
individuals
have
a
better
user
experience.

Some
of
the
other
features
include
favoriting
a
patient.
When
I
favorite
a
patient,
now
they
become
part
of
a
patient
roster
that
I
manage.
Especially
for
care
managers
who
have
patients
or
members
who
move
all
over
the
healthcare
delivery
system,
I
can
watch
those
patients’
activity
play
out
in
real
time.
I
receive
greater
demographic
information.
I
see
when
they
have
a
visit
at
an
emergency
department.
I
can
make
a
contact.
I
can
reach
out
to
those
other
individuals
that
have
cared
for
the
patient
and
bring
that
information
together.

We’ve
brought
population
dashboarding
into
the
clinical
workflow.
We
also
organized
the
data
into
something
that’s
intuitive
and
exportable.
If
I
need
that
information
to
live
in
my
records,
I
can
easily
export
that
data
to
be
usable
within
my
own
records.
Those
organizations
can
then
use
those
records
for
managing
the
patient,
but
also
quality
reporting
and
potential
stars
ratings,
and
however
else
they
may
use
that
data
for
transactional
or
chronic
disease
management.

WHN:
What
are
some
of
the
remaining
hurdles
for
interoperability? 

Rottmann:
The
post-acute
providers,
like
skilled
nursing
facilities,
assisted
living
facilities
and
palliative
care,
some
of
those
organizations
just
simply
can’t
afford
a
system
that
offers
them
a
seat
at
the
table.
That’s
why
we
exist
as
an
HIE.
While
interoperability
at
its
core
needs
an
EHR,
we
are
very
versatile
in
the
way
that
we
can
bring
the
smaller,
less
technically
sophisticated
organizations
to
have
a
seat
at
the
table.
We
have
several
home
health
agencies
using
WISHIN
from
a
care
management
perspective
and
also
for
Medicaid
waste,
fraud
and
abuse
protection.

Pharmacies
have
systems,
but
they
don’t
always
interoperate
natively
or
seamlessly.
We’re
trying
to
sit
in
the
middle
of
those
transactions
and
elevate
the
necessary
information
that’s
needed,
so
that
we
can
help
enable
pharmacists,
especially
now
with
their
expansion
of
license,
to
act
in
accordance
with
their
license
as
clinicians.

There
are
so
many
other
examples.
The
adoption
of
an
EHR
was
at
the
forefront
15
years
ago.
We
have
so
much
work
ahead
of
us
to
make
that
happen
broadly.
I
don’t
see
that
happening
in
10
or
15
years.
Maybe
in
50
years,
everybody’s
using
a
system.
But
in
the
meantime,
that’s
why
WISHIN
and
several
other
HIEs
exist.
We
need
to
sit
in
the
middle
as
neutral
data
trustees.
We
need
to
start
moving
from
that
transactional
ones
and
zeros
moving
of
data
into
transformational
data
exchange
and
how
that
can
enable
community
value.

WHN:
What’s
next
for
WISHIN? 

Rottmann:
First,
and
this
is
not
something
we
have
done
great
in
the
past,
is
customer
engagement.
We
work
with
a
customer
and
talk
to
them
about
the
benefits
of
health
information
exchange.
We
connect
them,
and
they
deploy
the
services
within
their
organization.
And
then
there’s
been
a
lack,
over
the
past
15
years
of
our
existence,
of
coming
back
to
those
organizations
and
having
meaningful
dialogue.
‘What
is
the
return?
What
are
we
doing
well?
What
are
we
not
doing
so
well?’
That
is
at
the
forefront
because
that
feedback
drives
the
value
equation
that
we
need
to
adopt
and
change
per
customer.
That’s
really
setting
the
stage.
That’s
what
the
team
has
recently
launched,
and
I’m
thankful
for
that.
It’s
been
long
overdue.

And
then
it’s
demonstrating
a
return
on
an
investment.
There
are
some
returns
that
are
obvious,
but
there
are
underlying
needs
in
specialty
care,
rural
health,
clinically
integrated
networks
and
accountable
care
organizations.
We
need
to
have
these
conversations,
bring
groups
together
and
provide
feedback.
That
sets
the
stage
for
how
we
modify
our
governance
in
accordance
to
their
needs,
and
we’ve
done
that
in
the
past.

With
that,
and
it
ties
into
that
last
point,
we’ve
had
several
conversations
—
and
this
is
really
driven
by
our
health
plan
participants
—
about
how
quality
data
is
paramount.
Without
the
quality
data,
they
have
additional
work
to
do.
My
entire
team’s
goal
is:
How
can
we
shortcut
some
of
that
administrative
burden
by
taking
on
that
quality
assessment
and
modification
to
the
data
to
meet
the
needs
of
quality
measurement,
like
for
the
National
Committee
for
Quality
Assurance?
And
then
it
evolves
into
clinical
insights,
both
population
health
and
gaps
in
care.
And,
I
would
say
in
the
future,
not
today:
How
do
we
use
AI?

This
article
first
appeared
in
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