— Groundbreaking Data Reporting System Promotes Interoperability and Ensures Timely Intervention for Newborns
The Ministry of Health, and hospitals throughout the state of Guanajuato, Mexico, have gone live with OZ Systems’ health information management solutions to provide secure, cloud-based data administration and case management support for the government’s newborn hearing screening program.
The Guanajuato project is a key milestone advancing Mexico’s Universal Newborn Hearing Screening Program. It is also a tremendous advance in data systems interoperability. Even in the United States, many Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) programs are not connected to birth registry databases. With the landmark Guanajuato project, when a baby is registered in their National Database, OZ Systems’ e-Screener Plus II™ (eSP II™) application receives important demographic information from hospitals – avoiding manual entry of information, creating efficiencies, and reducing opportunities for human error or missed information. Most importantly, it allows hospital coordinators to keep track of every baby with hearing loss so they can be rescreened or referred to a specialist for early intervention, treatment and follow-up.
Guanajuato has been screening their newborns through the Ministry of Health since 2009 and the project continues to be championed by CONADIS (National Council for Development and Inclusion of People with Disabilities) and the Ministry of Health of Guanajuato. Now, with the OZ Systems’ platform in place, the entire newborn screening process is electronically connecting the public health with 15 hospitals with a total of 50,000 annual births.
“We are very happy that, after training hospital staff on OZ Systems’ solutions, we are ready to start using the software in 15 public facilities,” said Dr. Giovanna Cabrera, State Program Coordinator for the State of Guanajuato. “Once a baby tests positive for a hearing loss, the newborn screening team will ensure that the child receives appropriate and timely care. OZ Systems’ platform will help us ensure that the Hearing Screening Program is efficiently conducted.”
“The commitment of the people in Guanajuato has been extraordinary,” said Fernando Gomez, Vice President of Business Development at OZ Systems. “We’re looking forward to building our relationship with the Ministry of Health of Guanajuato, and ensuring positive outcomes for newborns across the state.”
Among the advantages of the new system:
– Direct reporting from hospitals to the State will be minimal – the new paperless, web based system allows simple, secure online status checks for each hospitals and its newborns;
– Earlier identification of babies with potential hearing problems – hospital coordinators, state coordinators, and national hearing screening coordinators all have access, opening communications and improving early patient intervention and follow-up;
– Contact information comes directly from the National Birth Registry system – avoiding manual errors and duplication of information and improving prompt patient care coordination and follow-up;
– Easy access to population health information – State and Federal. Simple, secure, real-time online results and analyses replace the former paper-based, monthly methods of State results reporting.
OZ Systems’ eSP II™ solution is the world’s most widely used newborn screening data solution. The web-based hearing screening system provides enhanced information management and communications capabilities for public health organizations, hospitals, practitioners and educators. Since 2000, OZ’s solutions have helped protect the health of more than nine million newborns.
About OZ Systems
By developing and implementing the world’s smartest information technology platforms, OZ Systems bridges the information gap and helps children and families thrive through improved data accountability, performance measurement, quality certification, and electronic reporting for public health and early education.
