PULSE Enterprise
Patient Unified Lookup System for Emergencies™
Secure Access to Patient Health Information for Emergency Responders
PULSE Enterprise is a fully supported solution built for public health and emergency management authorities to securely query for patient clinical and medication histories from across several national health information networks to solve critical gaps in patient care during public health emergencies and disasters.
PULSE Enterprise arms medical providers and emergency responders with real-time information about patient pre-existing and chronic conditions, allergies, and other clinical history to provide safe and timely medical care for displaced individuals. Access to these data prevents avoidable hospitalizations, reduces adverse events, and increases cost savings. Unlike patient care technologies solely focused on routine care, PULSE Enterprise is optimized for the unique demands of field conditions to reduce burden on providers, support high quality care for patients, and accelerate the return to routine care.
PULSE Enterprise Features
Designed for Emergency Response
Enables secure access to patient health information for authorized providers in field environments. Uses widely-adopted industry standards and insight from experts in disaster medicine and public health preparedness to seamlessly deliver patient data when and where it is needed.
Robust Medication and Clinical History Data
Leverages national health information networks that together cover at least 75% of hospitals, 80% of pharmacies, 77% of dialysis centers, and several federal agencies including the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Defense.
Dedicated Technical Assistance & Support
Supports Family Reunification Efforts
Individuals can be checked in and out of shelter environments, whereby creating a roster that can be used to facilitate patient tracking and family reunification efforts. PULSE Enterprise is also interoperable with Audacious Inquiry’s flagship Encounter Notification Service (ENS)® such that the shelter rosters can be collocated with hospital and emergency department admission data and cross-referenced against a list of missing persons.
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Health needs do not pause during crises like Hurricane Ida, so it is important for medical professionals to have as much clinical and medical information as possible about displaced patients. Being able to deploy a tool as simple yet impactful as PULSE has made all the difference for the nurse managers in our shelters as they work to provide better-informed patient care.
-Dakota Duncan, BCFS EMD Executive Director
”
History & Milestones
A look through the years
In late 2014, the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) for Health IT and the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) awarded a joint HHS Ventures award, through HHS’ innovative IDEA Lab, to lay the foundation for PULSE. The award provided for a PULSE program in California through the development of a detailed use case, technical architecture, and an evaluation of policy considerations.
Over the next several years, Audacious Inquiry worked with ONC and other partners to expand upon the California experience and develop an infrastructure that could be deployed nationwide. Today, PULSE Enterprise can be made available in any geographic area to support healthcare professionals and emergency responders caring for displaced individuals, or volunteer healthcare workers who are deployed to a disaster area outside of their normal health IT environment.
2021
The state of Florida adopts PULSE Enterprise, known locally as E-PLUS.
Texas activated and utilized PULSE Enterprise to support Louisiana’s response to Hurricane Ida. With the support of the Louisiana Department of Health, BCFS Emergency Management Division who was tasked to staff the medical shelters, worked with THSA and Audacious Inquiry to rapidly address the legal, governance, and technology requirements to deploy Texas’ technology in Louisiana.
California transitioned from the legacy PULSE to PULSE Enterprise and successfully deployed PULSE Enterprise to the San Diego area to staff monoclonal antibody therapy regional centers in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Florida Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) are positioned to support the Surfside Condo collapse using E-PLUS.
The Florida Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA), working closely with Florida Health (the state Department of Health), sought to obtain outcomes-based certification approval for PULSE Enterprise within the state’s Medicaid Enterprise System.
Related news:
2020
Audacious Inquiry offered PULSE COVID, a lightweight version of PULSE, at no-cost to state and federal agencies to support providers in surge sites and other alternate care facilities responding to the pandemic.
Audacious Inquiry launched PULSE Enterprise, leveraging national health information exchange networks to enable broad national adoption. PULSE Enterprise is adopted by the Texas Health Services Authority.
Audacious Inquiry partnered with Surescripts to make consolidated medication history data available in PULSE Enterprise.
California deployed PULSE in response to the wildfires in summer, 2020. Meanwhile, California also activated PLULSE and trained 80 providers from CAL-MAT and Health Corps for two COVID-19 response sites.
2019
ONC awarded Audacious Inquiry funding to expand the PULSE platform to improve usability, scalability, and flexibility to support a tighter integration with the national data exchange frameworks, positioning PULSE for broad national adoption.
Related news:
- EMS World, 2-12-19: A Health Information Exchange for Disasters
- Audacious Inquiry Press Release, 12-10-19: ONC Awards Audacious Inquiry Contract for Expansion of “PULSE” National Emergency Preparedness and Response Platform
2018
The Sequoia Project launched the PULSE Advisory Council to build on early successes and identify opportunities for broader adoption of PULSE.
PULSE is deployed in support of the of the California Camp Fire response.
Emergency Census was deployed in response to Hurricane Michael.
Related News:
- Politico, 11-21-18: California’s red-hot test of health information exchange
2017
PULSE was deployed in California for the first time during the fires in Napa, Lake, Sonoma, Mendocino, Butte, and Solano Counties.
Related News:
2015
With HHS Idea Lab funding, Audacious Inquiry validates the use case and begins technical development of PULSE for use in California.
Related news:
- Audacious Inquiry Blog, 10.3.20: Reflections on the History of the Patient Unified Lookup System for Emergencies™ (PULSE)
2014
ONC engaged Audacious Inquiry to evaluate use of HIE infrastructure for disaster preparedness and response. From this engagement, the “HIE Services in Support of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Medical Response” report was published.
Watch & Learn How PULSE Enterprise is Activated
News & Insights
Health IT for Disaster Response: Lauren Knieser Interview on HIT Like a Girl Podcast
Unfortunately, natural and man-made disasters are events that Americans have become accustomed to seeing in the news. From wildfires in the West to hurricanes in the East, these catastrophes are...
How Patient Lookup Reduces the Burden on Disaster Response Caregivers
Standing on the hard concrete floor in a convention center in 2021, I watched as nurses made frustrated and frantic calls to hospitals and nursing homes. Hurricane Ida had swept through Louisiana...
The Benefits of Emergency Preparedness Drills and Exercises: Texas Health Services Authority, Florida Agency for Health Care Administration Discuss How Lessons from Routine PULSE Drills Improved Real-World Response
Natural disasters continue to increase in frequency and severity on a global scale, limiting real-world opportunities for individual localities to train personnel, test plans, and apply lessons...
Success Stories
