Information integration initiative

University-owned, nonprofit  Stanford Hospital and Clinics has implemented a long-term clinical information strategy that involves database and rapid integration software.

"SHC is in the process of implementing an enterprise IT strategy for the next three to five years," says Anita Brewer, director of IT architecture and innovation at the hospital. "Integration is a key component of this strategy, which is based on seamless communication among multiple applications and data repositories."

"We want to pursue a more services-oriented architecture than is currently in place so it's easier to extend our data, and we want to be able to exchange information and communicate much more efficiently and rapidly. These objectives drove our search for robust information exchange and integration software that will ease transition into the new environment while mitigating risk."

Stanford Hospital and Clinics, which is located on the campus of Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif., chose a solution that includes CACHÉ post-relational database and the Ensemble rapid integration platform, both from InterSystems.

"Over a six month period, we looked at multiple integration products and narrowed things down to those vendors who are integration industry leaders," says Brewer. "Ensemble provides exceptional capabilities for rapid integration and development. And it's so visual and easily understandable that our team of IT architects could quickly perceive how it would work in each of our integration scenarios. That ability to show how it would work in the real world, combined with sophisticated functionality, were major factors underlying our decision."