The department is responsible for investigating adverse events, and the application is meant to make processing data and analytics easier. In its just-published annual report, the California Department of Technology (CDT) takes note of the MApLE app.
“By streamlining and optimizing these investigations, decision makers are able to receive information sooner, allowing quicker delivery of investigation outcomes to health facilities. This solution has automated manual tasks, optimized efficiency, and enabled completion of investigations within mandated timelines,” the CDT annual report says.
Adverse events are defined by SB 1301 (2006-Reporting and Inspection Requirements) to be any of 28 surgical events or negative outcomes such as patient death, disability, surgery on the wrong part of the body or incorrect discharges. Investigation information is gathered “mostly manually” for the thousands of events per year, according to Claudia Crist, the CDPH chief deputy director of Policy and Programs with the Digital Services Incubator Workshop.
“This particular project highlights a lot of the core tenets that we have … which is start small,” said Mike Wilkening, undersecretary for California Health and Human Services, speaking at the Incubator Workshop about the app. “We really involved them in developing that app. Instead of developing for them, develop with them.”
The project was developed using agile methodology with IBM. The pilot will be released in winter 2018 to a select group of investigators. If successful, the project could be scaled to all investigators. The prototype app is focused on retained foreign-object complaints.
The application costs are estimated at $800,000 and runs on Apple IoS on iPads. IBM uses Bluemix cloud services to host the application, according to a spokeswoman for CDPH.
