Repeated demonstration of the capability to deliver products and quality services on time and within budget is an accomplishment of the Information Systems Engineering Department at Southwest Research Institute (SwRI). Currently, we are focused on the design, development, and support of two major enterprise level Service Oriented Architecture systems:

• Enterprise Outpatient Scheduling System

  • Reengineer government client's 25-year-old scheduling management capability by bringing together improved business processes with advanced technical architecture

  • Objectives:

    • Better business practices that improve visitor experience (e.g., reduced wait times)

    • Better process standardization wherever needed

    • Improved process flexibility wherever possible

    • Improved reporting to drive informed and appropriate management action

• Enterprise Pharmacy System

  • Reengineer government client’s pharmacy system

    • Migrate systems technology and operational processes from dispensing and labeling focus to patient care-centric focus

  • Objectives:

    • Integrating inpatient and outpatient pharmacy care

    • Integrating on-site and off-site pharmacy care

    • Integrating pharmacy into the patient care team

    • Integrating inventory and supply management in patient healthcare

    • Integrating process management into patient healthcare

    • Improving order checks

    • Facilitating commercial drug database

Both of these projects consist of challenging database and interface development efforts to modernize legacy systems in order to provide a higher level of patient care.

SwRI is also well versed and capable of managing smaller projects with short turn-around times, such as:

• Correctional Care Pharmacy System

  • Replace a legacy pharmacy system for the correctional care environment

  • Web services

  • Microsoft^®  .NET

  • Oracle^® and MS SQL server

  • Web and desktop clients

  • “Push” framework

  • Provide full lifecycle support to the prescription process, from order entry through recorded medication administration

• Homemade Explosives Recipe Box

  • Assist law enforcement and military in the detection of possible homemade explosives manufacturing activity

• Mail Order Pharmacy—Evaluation and System Design

  • Design new software system to manage a manufacturing process of mail order prescriptions

  • Increase system productivity in an automation environment

  • Service oriented architecture

  • Microsoft .NET framework

  • Testing simulator

  • Interfaces to automation and robotic equipment

• RFID Study for Real Time Location System

  • Interviewed staff needs and derived requirements

  • Researched available vendors and technology

  • Issued a request for information from a long list of vendors

  • Selected seven vendors and invited them to SwRI to demonstrate their hardware and software solution

  • Developed scoring methodology

  • Hosted demonstrations

  • Documented findings in a final report

• Process Analysis and Integration

  • Provided input to building design based on revised business processes

  • Conducted value stream mapping

    • Clinical processes

    • Dental processes

    • Community health processes

    • Business office processes

  • Reviewed and suggested changes to business processes

  • Reviewed computer systems

    • Gave an accounting of systems used

    • Provided analysis of systems use and integration

• System Assessment

  • Client purchased software for practice management, clinical workflow automation, document and image management, and electronic medical records (EMR)

    • Client started medical data migration and software use

    • Client developed concerns over system/software stability

  • Performed analysis of purchased system and software stability

  • Provided recommendations for:

    • System monitoring

    • Procedures development

    • IT staff training

    • Software monitoring

  • Evaluated HIPAA security rule compliance

    • Performed security risk analysis

    • Updated security training materials

    • Developed a complete set of the required security documentation

• Open Source Software Assessment and Deployment Support

  • Developed infrastructure baseline

    • Documentation of the requirements, architecture, and installation/set-up

  • Developed the implementation framework

    • Surveyed specific sites

    • Interviewed key personnel

    • Identified business processes and workflow

    • Identified insertion strategy

    • Identified potential barriers to deployment

  • Facilitated Board of Directors meetings at SwRI

    • Assisted in revalidating the organizational mission

    • Assisted in development of roadmap for the future

  • Developed software and data verification test plan

    • Set up a test environment

    • Developed test data

    • Outlined data verification methodology

    • Developed test procedures

    • Performed a dry run of procedures against the client’s software

Technology Today^® Articles

• Secure Locations, Secure Medications (Spring 2004)

Internal Research

• Automated Interpretation of Medical Prescription Text

  • Provide a new model of prescription order entry

  • Use natural language processing to parse text information

  • Provide clinical decision assistance in real-time

  • Validate based on business rules

  • Learn and adapt to individual physician practices

• Principal Components Methodology for Predicting Disease

  • Model a diagnostic knowledge base capable of storing an evolving set of diagnostic indicators and resulting analytics

  • Develop a principal components algorithm to analyze the CDC’s National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS) records to identify principal sources of variance

  • Develop a logistic regression algorithm to produce a differential diagnosis using a stepwise approach

  • Develop an explanatory model to interpret the principal components

  • Evaluate the diagnostic efficacy of the algorithm to test the hypothesis

Contact us to discover how the positive rapport we establish as a team will help your organization or industry meet its technological goals and challenges.

We can offer you insights about how to specify the most effective approach to solving your software engineering problems. For more information about information systems engineering capabilities at SwRI or how you can contract with SwRI, please contact Steven H. Rodgers at srodgers@swri.org or (210) 522-3772.