MaxMD
Fostering Standards-Based Communication in Healthcare

“MaxMD builds standards-based, scalable interoperability solutions,” states Lisa Nelson, a medical informatics and business innovator who brings two-decades of rich experience in the development and use of healthcare information technology (HIT) standards to her role as VP of Marketing and Business Development at MaxMD. She pushes the organization the extra mile when it comes to using standards to achieve what MaxMD describes as “cost effective data liquidity”.

“Progress on exchanging interoperable health information has been slow but it is improving,” states Nelson. “There’s complexity to overcome in multiple areas.”For secure data transport, MaxMD leverages the Direct Protocol to provide highly scalable non-persistent connectivity. “We use Direct and the Trust-in-Identity Policy infrastructure established by DirectTrust, then incorporate health information exchange tools such as MaxIntegration™, MaxAlerts™, MaxNLP™, DirecText, Direct to FHIR, and Patient and Consumer Direct Messaging to create lightweight health information exchange(HIE) solutions.”MaxMD provides easily accessible tools and services that interface with virtually any existing HIT system. “Unlike point-to-point interfaces, this model is fast to deploy and extremely cost-effective. Our technology supports bi-directional exchange, which makes closed-loop communication possible and encourages patient-provider engagement,” Nelson says.

“We’ve grown significantly over the past year and we are expanding our services in response to client’s needs,” explains Nelson. “MaxMD has deep technical expertise and offers leadership in the application of standards such as HL7 Version 2 (V2), Clinical Document Architecture (CDA), and Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR). We enable our customers to leverage available standards and achieve the interoperability they seek,” she adds. “Our solutions address a wide range of needs. We automate event notifications for admissions, discharges and other types of care coordination. We make it easy for health information technology (HIT) innovators to exchange standard Consolidated CDA (C-CDA) documents to or from legacy HIT systems. MaxMD is on the forefront of deploying information exchange solutions that bridges the use of existing C-CDA standards and newer FHIR-based technology.

Success lies in leveraging the power of available standards

Our solutions support providers, payers and patients, and offer mobile app technology that can augment traditional EMR and edge-system user interfaces.”

In central Minnesota, two hospitals, four agencies covering public health, Indian health services, home health services, three ambulatory care clinics, a nursing home and an assisted living center serving this community set out to improve care coordination in their area. Communication and information sharing was challenging. Seven different types of EHR systems were being used and some organizations had no Health IT infrastructure at all.

Grant funding provided by the State Innovation Model (SIM) initiative was used to implement a standards-based event notification system that created a functioning health information exchange across the disparate systems for the past two years. It enabled organizations with EMRs and those with no HIT infrastructure to participate by receiving event notification information via a combination of interfaces and Direct Secure Messaging.

MaxMD’s lightweight data transportation and transformation solutions provide customizable rule sets and real-time delivery of clinical data that assists care coordinators and support patients. “The flexible rules-based engine automates unique workflows and eases interoperability across the care ecosystem—delivering the right information in the right format to the right caregiver at the right time,” says Nelson. “We work on exciting projects. MaxMD is on the cutting edge with Digital Signature technology, Registry Interoperability, the use of NLP to closes care gaps, a Patient smart phone app, and delivery of large payloads. We are excited about opportunities in the Insurance space and telemedicine. The more healthcare organizations realize the versatility of the Direct Protocol, the more our pipeline grows,” concludes Nelson.