Intermountain, DonorConnect and Florida firm launch donor referral network

Salt Lake City-based Intermountain Healthcare has joined DonorConnect and InVita Healthcare Technologies to launch iReferral interoperability in Utah and Idaho to streamline the critical first step in the organ, tissue and eye donation-transplantation process. A release from the new organization said the purpose of iReferral is to automate the identification and referral of potential donors and help to liberate hospital and donation resources while strengthening donation and transplant activity.

“Streamlining the donor referral process for the Intermountain teams gives our caregivers critical time back to spend more time with patients,” said Dr. Diane Alonso, transplant surgeon and medical director of Intermountain Healthcare’s abdominal transplant program. “Collaborating and improving our workflow will also result in more donors, especially for those waiting for a critical life-saving donor organ.”

Utilizing targeted algorithmic clinical triggers and secure interoperability, iReferral eliminates the need for manual, phone-based referral processes. The system sends time-sensitive information from the hospital’s electronic health record system (EHR) directly to the organ procurement organization’s (OPO) iTransplant donation management system. OPO confirmation is immediate and automatically logged into the hospitals' EHR, helping to streamline regulatory compliance requirements, includ-ing those of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

Intermountain Healthcare is a healthcare system with facilities in seven states and additional operations across the western U.S. It is a nonprofit system of 33 hospitals, 385 clinics, medical groups with some 3,800 employed physicians and advanced practice providers, a health plans division called SelectHealth with more than 1 million members and other health services.

DonorConnect (formerly Intermountain Donor Services), headquartered in Murray, is the federally designated, nonprofit community service organization dedicated to the recovery and transplantation of organs and tissues for Utah; southeastern Idaho; western Wyoming; and Elko, Nevada. It serves more than 90 hospitals and three transplant centers.

InVita Healthcare Technologies provides mission-critical and chain-of-custody software technologies for complex medical, forensic and community care environments. Based in Jacksonville, Florida, its software streamlines clinical workflows; optimizes supply chains; and provides tracking and visibility across donation and transplantation, blood and plasma operations, the tissue and implant lifecycle and environments spanning DNA and forensics. It is used by nearly 75 percent of all OPOs in the United States as well as more than 12,500 medical professionals across more than 100 organ, tissue, eye and birth tissue organizations around the world.

“DonorConnect is excited to embrace any tool that helps streamline the organ recovery and transplant process, and ensure positive outcomes for transplant recipients,” said Tracy Schmidt, executive director and president of DonorConnect. “We’ve been eager to implement iReferral and experience the improved efficiencies that the system will deliver.”

Following a successful pilot launch at Intermountain Medical Center in early 2022, iReferral has been launched across Intermountain Healthcare’s critical care units at Intermountain Medical Center and Intermountain McKay-Dee Hospital, with plans to deploy to additional facilities and units later this year.

Wade Liu, vice president of product for InVita Healthcare Technologies’ transplant division, said, “iReferral represents a unique win and step forward for all involved in the donation-transplantation ecosystem.  Hospitals can bolster compliance to federal requirements to refer potential donors. Nurses and providers can stay at the bedside and focus on patient care instead of telephonically regurgitating information that is already in the EHR. OPOs can automatically and reliably receive referrals that are critical to assess every possible donation opportunity. Families can be offered the opportunity to donate at the appropriate and right time.  All of this helps maximize the gift of organ, tissue and eye transplantation for the many currently in need.”