PilotFish Integration Solutions Solve Complex State Government Requirements

PilotFish offers integration solutions to State Governments to help them streamline processes, comply with federal mandates and reporting requirements as well as integrate disparate and legacy systems. The COVID-19 pandemic has increased the demand for solutions that can manage and report large amounts of data and PilotFish’s Integration Suite is well-suited for this purpose. PilotFish has helped several state governments – such as the Connecticut Department of Health with meeting CDC reporting requirements; the Commonwealth of Massachusetts with the automation of loading public health data into tracking systems and the Utah Health Information Network with modernizing their processes.

PilotFish Solutions is a leading provider of integration solutions for state governments, helping them meet new federal mandates, reduce costs and streamline services. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, PilotFish has continued to support state governments in managing the virus by integrating and reporting critical data. One of the critical strengths of PilotFish’s Integration Suite of products is its ability to support a wide range of disparate data formats, systems and connectivity requirements. This feature makes PilotFish an ideal solution for state governments, which often have complex legacy systems and proprietary formats. By leveraging PilotFish’s integration solutions, state governments can comply with new mandates, increase productivity, maximize their IT resources, modernize IT systems and improve services.

The COVID-19 pandemic has put tremendous pressure on healthcare systems worldwide and state governments have had to adapt to manage the virus’s demands quickly. One of the most significant challenges has been managing the massive amounts of COVID-19 data from various sources – including testing facilities, medical labs, hospitals and public health agencies.

PilotFish’s Enterprise License allows states and other entities to utilize a Federated Model for achieving inter- and intra-agency integration.

State governments have turned to integration solutions like PilotFish’s Integration Suite to manage this data effectively. PilotFish’s solutions can connect different data sources and formats, allowing state governments to collect and integrate COVID-19 data in real-time. This data is then processed, validated and stored in a standardized format, making it easier to analyze and share with state and federal authorities.

PilotFish’s solutions also enable state governments to automate COVID-19 data reporting. By integrating data sources, PilotFish can generate automated reports that provide accurate and up-to-date information on COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths. These reports are crucial for informing CMS, driving public health policies, identifying hotspots and monitoring the spread of the virus.

The State of Connecticut 

The State of Connecticut has an enterprise license to PilotFish’s Integration Suite of products. Using a Federated model, PilotFish has been implemented throughout the state’s departments and agencies. One implementation was in the Connecticut Department of Health (DPH). DPH collects vast public health data from numerous surveillance systems – including hospitals, healthcare providers, community health centers, clinics and laboratories. The data is validated, standardized and submitted through various systems to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) programs. This process adds to the workload of state and local public health staff, who are also pressured to meet increasing state and federal mandates.

The CDC has developed HL7 message mapping guides (MMGs) for nationally notifiable data, which the DPH must implement. One such mandate is the CDC’s initiative to increase the National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System’s technological infrastructure (NNDSS). The DPH is tasked with taking data from the state’s multiple surveillance systems and feeding back the relevant reporting data to the CDC’s NNDSS system in HL7 – per the new CDC guidelines, HL7 specifications and milestones. The CDC has currently prioritized nine MMGs for adoption – including Arboviral, foodborne, hepatitis, STD and pertussis, as well as many others.

The DPH turned to PilotFish for a modern, flexible and extensible interface engine solution that could simplify data transformation and reporting. The client had already used PilotFish in other successful projects and required a solution to deploy internal and external systems rapidly.

PilotFish offers an enterprise integration middleware solution that leverages a complete Java framework, web services and industry XML standards. The PilotFish eiPlatform Interface Engine debuted in the client’s environment during the initial Electronic Laboratory Reporting (ELR) and Meaningful Use projects, replacing a slower and more costly interface engine. By leveraging PilotFish, the implementation of the CDC’s Generic v2 standard was completed in less than a month.

In implementing the new CDC Generic v2 HL7 messaging standard, the DPH leveraged PilotFish’s solution – which includes the eiPlatform, BaseX and custom Java classes. The IT lead was impressed by architecting, designing and implementing an ELR messaging bus in record time – thanks to the speed and ease of use delivered by PilotFish. PilotFish’s solution simplified data transformation and reporting, ensuring the DPH could meet the new CDC mandates and submit data to the NNDSS system accurately and efficiently.

Utah Health Information Network (UHIN)

UHIN is a Healthcare Claims Clearinghouse and Health Information Exchange (HIE) provider that facilitates the secure electronic data exchange for large healthcare networks and private practices. With over 4,000 payers nationwide, the client handles millions of ASC X12 HIPAA claims files.

The client’s existing infrastructure was built on a combination of a commercial vendor’s ETL software and their homegrown technology. The legacy system was difficult to troubleshoot, subject to failure and too rigid to accommodate new features or evolving standards and technologies. The client struggled to maintain and develop, resulting in mounting frustration from their user community and internal management team.

The client required a new enterprise solution that could address all these challenges, minimize the staff required for maintenance and ongoing development and be implemented transparently, thus maintaining hundreds of existing endpoints with little disruption during the transition.

The client turned to PilotFish to re-engineer and transition its claims processing architecture in record time with no disruption to existing connections or increased resources. Armed with new tools and PilotFish support, a small internal team met every challenge, resulting in newfound agility for the organization. The new integration solution enabled the client to respond efficiently to growth and increased transaction volumes and to react promptly to data editing and validation requests from their client base. With a modern architecture and integration solution, the client could overcome the legacy system hangover, reduce resource stress and satisfy impatient customers.

Commonwealth of Massachusetts

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts has been utilizing PilotFish’s integration solutions to streamline loading lead level reports into the Occupational Lead Poisoning Registry, which tracks elevated blood lead levels in the state’s population. Before using PilotFish’s solutions, the process was highly manual, time-consuming and prone to errors. PilotFish’s automation makes the process significantly more efficient, reducing the manual workload for State staff.

PilotFish’s solutions validate and standardize the HL7 files containing lead-level reports, ensuring that the data is accurate, complete and consistent. Once validated, the files are loaded into an Access database, which can be easily accessed and analyzed. Custom reports are generated from the database, providing critical information to public health officials and other stakeholders.

By automating the process of loading lead level reports, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts has improved the accuracy and timeliness of the data, enabling public health officials to better identify and respond to cases of lead poisoning in the population. Additionally, the automation has freed up valuable staff time, allowing them to focus on other important public health initiatives.

PilotFish – Streamlining the Integration Process for State Governments

PilotFish provides integration solutions that help State Governments overcome the challenges of integrating disparate and legacy systems, meeting reporting requirements and complying with new legislation. PilotFish’s solutions can handle various formats and systems (including proprietary and legacy systems) and can validate, standardize and transform data to comply with federal mandates and reporting requirements. With PilotFish’s solutions, states can streamline their processes, reduce manual workload and improve the accuracy and timeliness of data, enabling them to make better decisions to protect the health and well-being of their citizens.

HL7 is the registered trademark of Health Level Seven International.
X12, chartered by the American National Standards Institute for more than 35 years, develops and maintains EDI standards and XML schemas.