Supernova Award Category
The Problem
For years, GEH had been using the Oracle eGate integration engine – until it was notified by Oracle that the solution was being “end of lifed”, forcing them to seek an alternative. GEH needed a platform that could navigate the complexities and nuances of EDI data. EDI data must conform to critical SLAs and certifications that govern electronic transmission of patient information. For example, there are eligibility transactions with a turnaround time defined by the CAQH CORE® – a US certification agency. To be in compliance with CORE, you need to meet several standards including turning around transactions end to end in 20 seconds or less, with an internal processing time of 4 seconds or less. Thus, they needed a system that could deliver blazingly fast transaction speed. In cases where there is no industry standard and certifications and regulations don’t govern data, GEH has established SLAs to acknowledge every claim submitted by healthcare organizations within 24 hours.
The Solution
From the beginning GEH had three main goals in mind: migration with zero disruption to existing customers; improved turnaround times and regulatory compliance; and set up for future growth. GEH wanted an open source technology that provided them with the flexibility to integrate with their existing environment, as well as adapt to changing business needs as the landscape scales and changes.
GE Healthcare chose Talend primarily because it is open source-based, which gave them the flexibility they needed to integrate with their existing architecture, as well as a platform that would set them up for future growth. During the POC in June 2015, members of Talend’s Professional Services team came on-site with GE Healthcare’s core group of engineers to help them migrate its data from eGate to Talend ESB and, in particular, the Talend Data Mapper (TDM). Bharadwajan and his team were able to successfully transition all 126 payers onto the system by early 2016.
The results
As a result of using Talend, GEH achieved its three goals: Zero disruption to existing customers. Bharadwajan says, “We designed a way to make the transition almost invisible to customers. Currently both platforms are running and we do an “enablement process” - progressing through multiple rounds of testing to ensure a particular customer or payer can be moved over to Talend. If there is a problem, we move the organization back to eGate while we correct the issue.”
Turnaround times/compliance. GE Healthcare has been able to consistently meet and exceed internal SLAs regarding turnaround times and external industry compliance standards.
Growth. GE Healthcare is striving to expand its EDI footprint, catering to practice management systems outside of the GE Healthcare portfolio.
With Talend Data Integration in place, Bharadwajan and his team are working towards more specific KPIs: “We cater to Practice Management system software for various sectors, from small (5-10 physicians) practices to massive hospitals and health systems.
Metrics
Currently, the data center processes 40K transactions an hour at peak volume and Bharadwajan is exploring how their systems could handle double that volume (80K transactions/hour), uncovering bottlenecks and learning how to scale with more elasticity.
The Technology
Talend Data Mapper and Talend Data Integration
Disruptive Factor
For years, GE Healthcare had been using the eGate integration engine – until it was notified by Oracle that the solution was being put on Oracle’s “end of life” list, forcing GE Healthcare (and other IT vendors) to seek alternatives - alternatives that have potential to become huge, expensive headaches for organizations.
The team knew it had to make a change, so it sent out an RFP to many vendors. According to Bharadwajan, EDI data must conform to critical SLAs and certifications that govern electronic transmission of patient information: “For example, you have eligibility transactions with a turnaround time defined by the CAQH CORE® – a certification agency in the U.S. To be CORE certified you need to meet many standards, including turning around transactions end to end in 20 seconds or less, with an internal processing time of 4 seconds or less.”
In cases where there is no industry standard, and certifications and regulations don’t govern data, GE Healthcare has set SLAs to ensure prompt customer service – for claims processing, for example, the organization strives to acknowledge every claim submitted by healthcare organizations within 24 hours.
Shining Moment
“We designed a way to make the transition almost invisible to customers. Currently both platforms are running and we do an “enablement process” - progressing through multiple rounds of testing to ensure a particular customer or payer can be moved over to Talend."