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While medical drone delivery is still in its infancy in the United States, Zipline has been using drones to deliver blood and medical supplies in Rwanda since 2016. Zipline’s drones are small fixed-wing autonomous aircraft with 10-foot wingspans that can carry three-pound loads. Instead of landing at a destination, the small planes drop packages attached to paper parachutes at targeted locations. The company says the fixed-wing design allows the drones to fly much faster and in worse weather conditions than quadcopter drones.

Zipline delivers more than 75 percent of Rwanda’s blood supply outside of the country’s capital of Kigali, according to a press statement from the company. Last year, it expanded into Ghana, and the company has plans to expand into the United States as well.

Back at WakeMed, Dr. Weinstein notes that while the drone program has been successful, it has yet to reach its full potential for benefitting the laboratory. He views replacing quarter-mile courier trips with drone flights as a proof-of-concept for larger projects.

“This isn’t for now,” he says. “It’s for the future.”—Renee Caruthers

CompuGroup Medical enhances LIS and lab outreach solution

CompuGroup Medical has added functionality to its CGM LabDaq laboratory information system and cloud-based CGM LabNexus laboratory outreach solution.

New in LabDaq 19.11 is an upgraded workflow-management option for sorting and searching patient and test data. This feature more accurately pinpoints quality controls that have tested out of range, allowing users to identify test plates that should be retested. Standard with the workflow-management option is a location filter that can default to display all of a client’s locations.

CGM LabNexus 19.1 includes updates to the HL7 activity log and improvements to the pending report query, order history, and organization setup that are designed to make the platform more intuitive.

“Pending tests and order history can now be sorted by received date, so users have another way to quickly find the information they’re looking for,” said Carl Smith, general manager of the lab division, CompuGroup Medical US, in a press statement.

CompuGroup Medical, 800-359-0911

ONC revises Interoperability Standards Advisory

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology has released the 2020 Interoperability Standards Advisory Reference Edition, which contains updates across the Interoperability Standards Advisory. The content is offered as a static document and through an interactive website.

Among the most significant updates, which incorporate feedback garnered through the ONC’s public review and comment period last year, are the following:

• a new subsection that provides information about incorporating clinical notes into health care information technology systems.
• a new subsection, called Care Coordination for Referrals, which includes information about initiatives intended to improve the exchange of patient information for follow-up care and other medical needs.
• expansion of the consumer access/exchange of health information area of the ISA to include the collection and exchange of patient-reported outcomes.
• a new subsection that addresses patients’ cognitive status.
• the addition of four interoperability needs related to social determinants of health, representing drug use, food insecurity, housing insecurity, and transportation insecurity.
• a more streamlined and navigable home page on the ISA website. Some information available on the home page has been moved to other pages, which are broken down by topic.

“The ISA should be considered an open and transparent resource for industry and reflects the latest thinking around standards use with an eye toward nationwide interoperability,” posted ONC’s Steven Posnack, deputy national coordinator for health information technology, and Brett Andriesen, standards advisory lead, in a Health IT Buzz blog post last month.

The updates are available at www.j.mp/2020-ISA-updates.

Dr. Aller practices clinical informatics in Southern California. He can be reached at raller@usc.edu.