InterSystems Corporation has announced that CareGroup Healthcare System, a Boston-based integrated delivery network (IDN) comprised of four hospitals, has selected the InterSystems Ensemble rapid integration and development platform to replace its legacy eGate platform for strategic integration throughout the organization. In addition to determining that Ensemble could support all current file and application interfaces, CareGroup found that configuration was fairly straightforward-an important consideration in an organization where Ensemble will eventually handle more than 200 system and information interfaces. "Ensemble will be used to support data integration throughout the IDN," states Steve Herzog, senior director, Financial Systems at CareGroup "Our strategy is to deploy Ensemble at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center first and then to the community hospitals that are included in the CareGroup network."
CareGroup's first major integration initiative involves integrating an SCC Soft Computer Softlab laboratory information system with the Ensemble platform. "We've developed the Ensemble interfaces, are currently in test mode, and plan to roll the application into production in October," says Herzog. "And, we have some fairly standard HL7 applications that will probably be migrated to Ensemble before 3Q10." Herzog views Ensemble's support for secure HL7 connectivity to other systems in real-time mode and the ability to rapidly develop new interfaces as key benefits to executing CareGroup's integration strategy. "We see increased usage of secure protocols for transmitting across the web among the companies that the IDN deals with," he notes.
"CareGroup is recognized worldwide for innovative use of healthcare technology and we've had the opportunity to work with them for more than a decade on projects built on InterSystems' advanced software technologies," notes Paul Grabscheid, InterSystems vice president of Strategic Planning. "We appreciate the opportunity to support CareGroup's transition to Ensemble as they take the next steps on the road to completely connected healthcare." For more about InterSystems Ensemble, go here.