New Initiative Features Copernicus Integration Engine From LifeLogics

Nottingham, MD | May 4, 2020 Yale New Haven Health (YNH) and New England Donor Services (NEDS) implemented a pilot for a first-in-the-nation electronic referral system for organ and tissue donation that is replicable across the nation and does not depend upon proprietary software. Designed and architected by Jeffrey Sterrette, CTO and Stacey Smith, Lead Business Analyst of LifeLogics, Inc., the Yale New Haven Health Team, and New England Donor Services the new automated referral system will save hundreds of hours of hospital staff time and bolster the accurate and timely identification of potential organ donors. Especially during this time of the coronavirus public health emergency, reducing the time spent by ICU staff on administrative burdens is key.

Currently, nurses and physicians are required by federal regulation to notify NEDS each time a patient meets the clinical referral requirement for organ or tissue donation and this was previously done by phone. At YNH, thousands of referrals are generated every year requiring significant time spent by health professionals making phone calls rather than providing clinical services. In addition, in the field of donation where time is always of the essence, NEDS will receive referrals faster – in under twenty seconds – and will more rapidly deploy staff to cases that have organ and tissue potential.

NEDS’ TrueNorth system will, in turn, respond with a confirmation status message including a referral number, a time stamp and the status of the donor. The status message “closes the loop” so that Yale New Haven clinicians know the referral was received and is being responded to appropriately by NEDS. All configurable, intelligent workflow in TrueNorth which has been in place since NEDS’ 2009 implementation is in use.

The project planning began in 2019 with an information technology team looking to use existing Electronic Medical Record (EMR) systems to perform the referral tasks now done by phone. Dr. Allen Hsiao, Chief Medical Information Officer, Mathew Moss, SVP & CIO of NEDS, and Peter Bilsky, Executive Director of LifeLogics collaborated on the scope and timeline of the project. The “non-proprietary” nature of the Copernicus engine integration as well as Epic automation allows for replication in any hospital running the popular EPIC EMR system.

The pilot site is the Neuro Intensive Care Unit of Yale New Haven’s Main Campus. Later in 2020, the technology will be deployed to all hospitals (and all units) within the Yale New Haven Health System. In another technology first, a second phase of the project has been announced which takes integration to the next level.

About LifeLogics
LifeLogics, Inc. is a specialty data management solutions provider to the organ and tissue recovery and processing community. Founded in 2006, the company was launched with the support of a consortium of organ procurement organizations (OPOs). Today, LifeLogics has more than one-third of the organ processing community in the United States as customers via its flagship product, TrueNorth™ – the industry’s premier organ and tissue donor information solution. To learn more please visit lifelogics.org.

About New England Donor Services
New England Donor Services is an affiliation of two federally designated Organ Procurement Organizations: LifeChoice Donor Services and New England Organ Bank. Together, the organizations coordinate the recovery of donated organs and tissues at nearly 200 hospitals to provide life-saving and life-enhancing transplants to patients in need. For more information please visit neds.org.

About Yale New Haven Health
Yale New Haven Health (YNHHS), the largest and most comprehensive healthcare system in Connecticut, is recognized for advanced clinical care, quality, service, cost effectiveness and commitment to improving the health status of the communities it serves. YNHHS includes five hospitals and is affiliated with Yale University and Yale Medicine, the clinical practice of the Yale School of Medicine and the largest academic multi-specialty practice in New England. For more information please visit ynhhs.org.