“Testing Is the Way to Go”: How a Statewide Initiative Is Breaking New Ground in Disease Management

In today’s healthcare landscape, it’s rare that organizations are presented with a no-brainer (or, as close to that concept as is realistically possible). UConn Health, however, has come awfully close with an initiative to dramatically expand Covid-19 testing throughout the state. Along with several other Connecticut-based providers, UConn Health is working with Jackson Laboratory to facilitate the process. But rather than simply participate, the organization is acting as a hub for the 20,000 or so tests that come through each day, capitalizing on its exclusive interface with Jackson Labs.

Of course, it wasn’t going to be easy; there were legal and compliance issues that needed to be addressed, as well as the added volume placed on the EHR, said Chuck Podesta in a recent interview. Fortunately, those proved surmountable, thanks largely to UConn’s partnership with Epic, and the overwhelming desire of all parties involved to help make an impact.

Part 1

Part 2



* Creating a model with Epic – “We’re way ahead of the curve.”

* Working with Jackson Labs

* UConn’s interface engine – “It works with all types of systems.”

* State testing requirements

* Provisioning outside employees – “You have to make sure there’s a solid approach.”

* Vendor cooperation – “We’re not trying to make money out of this. We’re trying to do good.”

* Scalability challenges



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Bold Statements

The private labs are not going to do 20 interfaces to 20 different organizations. They’re not just going to do it. But if you can present them with a way for a single interface to bring in all these various organizations, then they’ll listen.

If a Covid test comes back and you’re positive but don’t have a provider on record, you’re the only one who knows that you’re Covid positive. There’s no one involved from a care coordination standpoint. That’s why you need an order from a provider.

You have to provision people who don’t work for your organization to have access to your system. You have to make sure there’s a solid approach to how you’re getting that provisioning done to get them signed up and set limits on what they can do.

Epic is a corporation. They need to make money to survive, but they understand that we’re all in this together, and this is their way of giving back and being part of the solution. I love that.

Podesta:  Epic views this as a model that could potentially be used in other states; they’re doing something similar in Wisconsin. Based on all their clients across the United States, I asked them where are we compared to everybody else with this initiative, and they said we’re way ahead of curve, and other people are going to want to know about this.

Someone like Sutter Health in Northern California can do the same thing. You can take any large Epic site — or small Epic site, for that matter — and as long as you have an interface to the private labs, they’re the only ones that can scale. Unless of course it’s Yale-New Haven or Cleveland Clinic, but even then, you can’t scale as high as these private labs, and so you need some way to connect to them. The private labs are not going to do 20 interfaces to 20 different organizations. They’re not just going to do it. But if you can present them with a way for a single interface to bring in all these various organizations,