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CASE STUDY
Michigan Health Alert Network

State of Michigan Protects Residents with State-of-the-Art Emergency Alert Network

Challenge

In a world faced with new challenges posed by terrorism, as well as traditional public health and safety threats from natural disasters, small pox and virulent new flu strains – emergency communication systems are more critical than ever. To prepare and respond to health and safety threats more efficiently, the state of Michigan set out to implement a Health Alert Network (HAN), an integrated statewide communication network designed to allow both public and private healthcare partners to connect with one another and collaboratively prepare and respond to public health incidents as they unfold.

The Michigan Office of Public Health Preparedness needed a system that was reliable, robust, and flexible enough to meet the needs of public health professionals and others from around the state. To be truly successful, the solution would have to include an alert system to connect metro and rural healthcare networks, as well as more closely integrate public and private healthcare organizations. Contact information would have to be kept current and available to ensure critical, timesensitive alerts would get to the right people, and that they could be reached without knowing exact names or titles.

And the entire system would need to be implemented in a short time, on a tight budget.

Solution

Bill Colville, the Michigan Health Alert Network coordinator, knew that he wanted a HAN portal at the core of the system and he knew simplicity would be vital in completing the project on time and on budget. He did not want to re-invent the wheel to create an alerting system and wanted to avoid a complicated proprietary system.

Global Secure Response Manager, a web-based platform from Global Secure Systems, emerged as the clear solution to the state’s needs. Global Secure Systems provides alerting and communications software that is currently in use in more than 20 states and two local jurisdictions in the United States.

“When we looked for a vendor for our new health alert solution, Global Secure was the only company that had an off-the-shelf solution that met our needs for preparedness as well as response,” Colville said.

A Powerful, Flexible Communications and Alerting Platform

Global Secure Systems successfully implemented the Response Manager software within the state’s required budget and timelines. Now in place, Response Manager provides a powerful, flexible communications and alerting platform for the state of Michigan. The system links over 2500 users from 180 hospitals, 45 local health departments, 13 tribal agencies and a host of other related organizations. Called MIHAN, the Michigan system provides functionality on three levels: alerting, directory maintenance and extensibility, and document posting.

Based on geography, the MIHAN is designed for tightly targeted or statewide alerts so that it can be used for localized, single county emergencies or for notifying the entire state quickly and efficiently. Its innovative directory structure enables secure, distributed alerting rights which put control and alerting power in the proper hands when a crisis erupts.

Every MIHAN user is responsible for creating, maintaining and updating his/her own profile with contact information and how he or she would prefer to be contacted. This self maintenance, plus the delegated directory administration structure, helps alleviate a potentially huge administrative bottleneck that would result from a top-down, centralized administrative structure

Before the Michigan HAN was implemented, departments communicated via phone, email or fax that typically went only one direction, rather than information exchange in real-time. Global Secure Systems was able to set up a method whereby the state health agency knows who has confirmed receipt of the alert notification, which is critical when coordinating the response to any emergency.

Every MIHAN user is responsible for creating, maintaining and updating his/her own profile with contact information and how he or she would prefer to be contacted. This self maintenance, plus the delegated directory administration structure, helps alleviate a potentially huge administrative bottleneck that would result from a top-down, centralized administrative structure.

Before the Michigan HAN was implemented, departments communicated via phone, email or fax that typically went only one direction, rather than information exchange in real-time. Global Secure Systems was able to set up a method whereby the state health agency knows who has confirmed receipt of the alert notification, which is critical when coordinating the response to any emergency.

Powerful Functional Role Based Directory

In Response Manager’s contact directory, people are designated by functional role, not by name or title. That way, instead of having to remember hundreds of names, ever-changing titles and fluctuating organizational structures, users can search for the right individuals to contact by other more intuitive means. Users within MIHAN are associated by geography (by city, county or zip code), common functionality (i.e., epidemiology) and mission (administrator, doctor, nurse, EMT, etc.). This makes it easy to find the right person with the right function even if their name is not known. By making it easy to look up contact information, the system helps expedite the process of alerting first responders and public health officials and helps avoid unnecessary overlap or miscommunication.

Through its functional role based directory features, the system enables secure and easy collaboration between designated groups of users. Because MIHAN allows users to post documents to a library, authorized users can “check out” a document, add to it, collaborate and then re-post it in an annotated format. This way mutual aid agreements and cross-jurisdictional response protocols can be developed and available for use when emergency situations arise.

Just as is important is the increased system security that this sophisticated directory management architecture provides through a simplified process of granting, auditing and managing system permissions.

Critically, MIHAN remains adaptable and scalable as Michigan’s needs change.

Next, the state looks forward to using Global Secure’s Response Manager to conduct cross-jurisdictional alerting to surrounding states and integrating mapping technology to identify alert recipients.

Results

By integrating emergency communication, collaboration, preparation and response, Michigan healthcare networks are better equipped to handle healthcare emergencies – and their day-to-day jobs. “I’m personally thrilled with the system,” Colville said. “From the standpoint of health, the state of Michigan is far better off today, better prepared, than we were just two years ago.”

In 2004, the MIHAN system proved critical when a major chemical spill occurred on Super Bowl Sunday in the St. Clair River bordering Michigan and Canada. MIHAN quickly alerted the authorities to shut down the public water supply in the communities there, averting a potentially very serious health hazard. More recently, Michigan used its system to manage requests for services and personnel to assist with relief efforts for the Katrina and Rita hurricanes.

Ultimately, the citizens of Michigan are the real winners of the coordinated response the system enables. “The general public benefits most from MIHAN at this time in the ability for all of our partners to have real-time instantaneous coordination and situational awareness. We’re all working on the same page,” said Dr. Don Edwards, Medical Director for the District 1 Regional Medical Response Coalition.