HLN took a leadership role in a three-vendor project to integrate the childhood immunization and lead poisoning prevention systems in a major municipal health department. HLN worked with the executive sponsors to develop the initial conceptualization of the system, and not only developed the Oracle-based master client index but modified products across a wide variety of architectures (including client/server, web, and batch) to interface with this system. HLN now supports the operation of the new system as well as ongoing development of its products.
For a large municipal health department, HLN created a web-based Facility Profile application to support creating, managing, and communicating information about facilities used as points of distribution (PODs) for medication and supplies in the event of an emergency. The application captures detailed information about a facility, such as its address, contact information, accessibility, interior/exterior physical characteristics, establishing photos, floor plans, maps, and aerial photographs. From that data, users can create a structured electronic or paper based Preplan detailing the specific information necessary to support emergency preparedness and response operations. Both tactical data (data that is common across facilities regardless of their response function type), and strategic data (data that is specific to the kind of event the facility may support) are included in the application. The application is fully web-based, developed in Microsoft .NET and SQL Server.
HLN developed a web-based electronic health record system system specifically to support patient registration and immunization administration in immunization clinics operated by a large municipal public health agency. The state of the art system incorporates an expert decision support system that intelligently prompts the clinic staff to ask the patient the precise screening questions that are appropriate for that specific patient encounter and then recommends and contraindicates immunizations based on the answers to those questions, as well as the patient's age, gender, and immunization history. The system is integrated with the municipality's immunization information system so that both systems can benefit from data contained in the other.
Because of the highly innovative nature of the project, HLN utilized an Agile software development methodology. With this Agile methodology, HLN developed, tested, and deployed a new release of the software every five weeks. This enabled the client to continuously evaluate the software, discover new needs, redefine the requirements, and change priorities throughout the project. It also enabled the client to train the clinic staff on the software long before the deployment date and ensured a smooth transition when the EHR system finally replaced the paper driven process that the clinics had utilized for many years.