An EKG management system preserves a historical record of all EKGs performed and allows retrieval and editing of these EKGs on demand. There are both medical and regulatory needs for this data so preserving the information is critical.

Data is not typically compatible between EKG management systems from different manufacturers, so moving from one system to another requires a data migration. Our manufacturer-trusted conversion technology and wide compatibility provides the ability to do this.

As part of our migration service the hospital has the ability to apply rule-based changes to the data, such as adding a prefix to the Patient IDs, or hardcoding a specific field. One of the optional capabilities we offer is MRN Conversion which uses a hospital-supplied crosswalk file to update the Patient IDs (MRNs) inline as the records are converted.

The process is done in 3 steps:

1. Extract all resting EKGs from the source system. For some systems (e.g. Agfa Heartstation, Baxter/Epiphany Cardio Server, Cerner PowerChart ECG, or Mortara eScribe) the hospital must contract with the source system vendor to export the data. For other systems (e.g. Change Healthcare Cardiology, GE MUSE, Philips TMV/iECG) we will extract the records directly from the source database.
2. Convert the data to the destination format. This is our migration service and the data is converted as-is unless the hospital requests specific rule-based changes to the data or an MRN Conversion as described above.
3. Load the converted records into the destination system. This is normally done by the destination system vendor.

When planning a migration project one of the biggest decisions that needs to be made is whether it will be a 1-Pass or 2-Pass (Residual) migration.

Here are descriptions of each:

• For 1-Pass you will go live with the new system, and then when the old system is static we will convert the data and supply the converted records for the new manufacturer to load.
• For 2-Pass all but the most recent records are pre-loaded into the new system prior to go-live, and then after go-live we will convert the most recent data (typically 60-90 days’ worth). This is actually two complete migrations. The advantage is having almost all data in the new system at go-live with the remaining data loaded quickly afterwards.

To address privacy concerns and ensure that no Protected Health Information (PHI) leaves the facility, all migrations are done onsite by a hospital technician working in conjunction with us. The hospital will provide a computer (typically a VM server) to be used for the migration (also with SQL Server for certain source systems) and a technical resource. The migration will be performed on the migration server by the hospital resource with our remote assistance and Datamed® will have no access to any PHI or the hospital network.

On the destination side we can migrate data to all of our supported ECG management/storage systems. The manufacturer of the new system will be involved in the migration because they will need to load the converted records into the system. This is done as part of the installation of the system. The major vendors are all familiar with this process and we work closely with them to ensure a smooth transition.

On the source side we can migrate from many of our supported ECG management/storage systems, but not all legacy management systems can be migrated. For some systems we have created specialized migration tools, while others have existing methods to export the records for conversion. And a few require assistance from the manufacturer. Contact us if you have a question about your particular system.

Here are notes about some of the more common systems that can be migrated:

• Baxter (Epiphany) Cardio Server – The customer must order a data export from Baxter. Once the data is extracted then hospital IT will copy it to the conversion server.
• Baxter (Cardiac Science) Pyramis – Hospital IT will run a built-in utility on the Pyramis server to export the data, then copy it to the conversion server.
• Cerner PowerChart ECG – The customer must order a data export from Cerner (Data First). Once the data is extracted then hospital IT will copy it to the conversion server.
• Change Healthcare Cardiology / McKesson Cardiology – SQL Server is required on the conversion server. Hospital IT will copy a backup of the CHC database to the conversion server.
• Philips TraceMasterVue / Intellispace ECG – SQL Server is required on the conversion server. Hospital IT will copy a backup of the TMV/iECG databases to the conversion server.