Texas Adopts Audacious Inquiry's PULSE Enterprise to Support Disaster Response

BALTIMORE, Oct. 19, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, the Texas Health Services Authority (THSA) and Audacious Inquiry announced that the State of Texas is adopting the Patient Unified Lookup System for Emergencies™ (PULSE) platform to strengthen the state's disaster response in the wake of tropical storm Marco, Hurricane Laura, the COVID-19 pandemic, and to improve emergency preparedness going forward.

PULSE is a cloud-based software solution that allows electronic patient data to be viewed by providers in nonroutine healthcare settings during disaster response. During emergencies such as hurricanes, pandemics, tornadoes, or terrorist attacks, impacted individuals and their families frequently receive medical care from providers or emergency response personnel outside their typical care network. As a result, those providing medical care often have incomplete clinical data, which compromises the quality of the care. With PULSE, authenticated providers can access medications, allergies, diagnoses, and lab results for patients who are displaced outside of their normal healthcare environment.

"Soon our authorized, vetted, and trained disaster response personnel will have a secure, statewide, and standardized means to access patient information through a smartphone or tablet, which will significantly speed up the delivery of care during emergencies," said George Gooch, CEO of THSA.

Once PULSE is deployed in a state, it can quickly be activated since widespread disasters can occur at a moment's notice. Audacious Inquiry launched PULSE in July 2017, and the platform has become essential for providers, emergency responders, and public health officials during the California wildfires. THSA will be the first to leverage the latest evolution of the PULSE platform, PULSE Enterprise, which features a curated medication history list, a family reunification capability, and robust auditing and reporting capabilities.

Nora Belcher, Executive Director of the Texas e-Health Alliance remarked, "PULSE is a game-changer for how we access disparate and siloed health information networks at the local, state, and national levels."

"By having a robust set of data accessible, including the ability to locate missing individuals who have presented to care settings for treatment, public health and emergency response professionals in Texas will be better equipped to support disaster preparedness and response efforts," said Audacious Inquiry's President, Scott Afzal.

PULSE Enterprise will be an integral tool in Texas' hurricane readiness efforts. Notably, the family reunification capability in PULSE Enterprise will share information in real-time with Texas' Emergency Department Encounter Notifications (EDEN) system, powered by Audacious Inquiry's Encounter Notification Service® (ENS), to ensure missing persons can be located whether they present to a hospital, a shelter, or an alternate care site. 

"Texas has been a key contributing member of The Sequoia Project's Emergency Preparedness Advisory Workgroup responsible for recommending best practices as they pertain to programs like PULSE.  During times such as these, it is important that all states look toward implementing technologies and programs that provide support to citizens during emergencies," said Debbie Condrey, Chief Information Officer of The Sequoia Project, the advocate for nationwide health information exchange.

About Audacious Inquiry
Audacious Inquiry (Ai) is an industry-shaping health IT and policy company that provides bold solutions for connected healthcare. Nationally recognized for its work to facilitate health data interoperability, Ai is a trusted partner to CMS, ONC, state Hospital Associations and Medicaid agencies across the country. The company delivers a cloud-based software as a service platform that is the catalyst for secure and smart health information exchange among physicians, hospitals, health plans, ACOs, MCOs, emergency responders, and public health agencies across 13 US states. Ai is raising the bar for how health data is shared, managed, and protected.

About the Texas Health Services Authority
The Texas Health Services Authority (THSA) operates as a public-private partnership established by the Texas Governor and Legislature for the purpose of promoting, implementing and facilitating the secure electronic exchange of health information. The THSA accomplishes this purpose through its health information exchange (HIE), and privacy and security certification and supporting programs.

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SOURCE Audacious Inquiry

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