DirectTrust ADT Notifications Guide Looks at Interoperability Rule

DirectTrust announced the launch of its Implementation Guide for Event Notifications via the Direct Standard, a Draft Standard for Trial Use (DSTU), to address the admission, discharge, and transfer (ADT) notifications from the CMS interoperability rule.

“The Event Notifications via Direct Implementation Guide is the shortest path to compliance with the CMS ADT Notifications Conditions of Participation, as it leverages existing Standards and implemented technologies,” Therasa Bell, Kno2 President and CTO, and chair of the DirectTrust IG for Notifications Consensus Body, said in a statement. 

This implementation guide aims to help providers fulfill a CMS condition of participation that will require all hospitals to send outbound event notifications by May 2021.

All health facilities must send direct electronic notifications to a patient’s provider once the patient is admitted, discharged, or transferred from another facility.

“With Meaningful Use we saw every certified EHR since 2014 implement Direct Secure Messaging, and that fabric has been laid across the United States,” Bell continued. “The Directory has been established to utilize these connections, so there has never been a better time to meet technology where it’s at and take advantage of the tailwind the Direct Standard™ has already created. I am excited to see the use of Direct for Notifications take off and really make an impact in healthcare.”

The implementation guide will provide further context, such as message type and patient data, for providers in all direct secure messages. This may allow providers to handle the message properly once it is received.

Direct secure messaging provides a basic exchange or push messaging system without the need for an EHR or health IT infrastructure other than an internet connection.

The nonprofit network said the guide extends and strengthens context standards and allows the recipient to determine the message’s contents to potentially reroute the message to the appropriate care team member.

“Encouraged by the DirectTrust EHR Roundtable, the Consensus Body engaged in a robust collaborative effort to produce this IG, which ultimately was approved by unanimous consensus. Forty participants representing all potential actors and interested constituents, including technology vendors, providers and patients, convened weekly to produce this work,” said Scott Stuewe, DirectTrust President and CEO.

Per the implementation guide, better ADT notifications could:

• Leverage existing standards and health IT to streamline a compliance path with the CMS ADT Conditions of Participation
• Create real-time visibility in patient care changes
• Boost provider-to-provider communication
• Authorizes providers to make informed patient care decisions
• Provides message context to ensure accuracy

“Participants are now eager to build and test their implementation of the IG into their compliant systems at the Adoptathon in April,” Stuewe continued. “We believe the attention paid to the workflow for receivers—like Primary Care, Specialist, Long-Term Post-Acute Care, or other patient-designated providers—will empower them to make informed decisions and positively impact patient care.”

Stuewe recently told EHRIntelligence the implementation guide should set the stage for DirectTrust to send context on nearly every message in the network, which ultimately intends to make every message more usable.

“This is already having a positive impact on our traffic,” Stuewe said. “But once this happens in a big way in May, the issue is actually that people are going to start worrying about being able to tell what the messages are about. Right now, we have many message types being sent across our network. But when users receive them, they can't easily see what they're about right away.”

“Particularly, if a user is using an EHR system, when she receives that message, she’d like to have it route to the right person, activate the right workflow, or otherwise sent to an entirely different department. Now, we're getting an opportunity to see context established for these messages for notifications, so that receivers will be able to route them appropriately,” Stuewe concluded.