How Michael Jordan, Phil Jackson, and Scottie Pippen all Came Together to Tell the Story of Patient-Reported Outcomes and EHR Integration

Looking back on our UCSF Digital Orthopedics Conference experience, we at CODE Technology feel so incredibly fortunate to have had the opportunity to be part of the inaugural kickoff of #DOCSF. In addition to live tweeting and streaming the conference, CODE also had the opportunity to share some of our expertise in a Telehealth case study focusing on EHR interoperability. Watch it here! In collaboration with Niko Skievaski of Redox, our CEO, Breanna Cunningham, narrated the inspiring PRO journey of one of our mutual clients, ORA Orthopedics. The moral of the story: That EHR integration with a patient-reported outcomes program is not only possible, but can be done quickly and have great impact when you have the right team. We like to parallel the story of ORA to the story of Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls. ORA started out as a large private orthopedics practice in Iowa with no PRO game to speak of… kind of like MJ — the skinny, short kid from North Carolina who was cut from his high school varsity basketball team.

But just like MJ kept at it, ORA didn’t let failure keep them from their goals. In fact, ORA tried out 2 other methods of PRO collection before realizing their goal of long-term, functional outcome data and a robust PRO data registry.   As Phil Jackson helped the Bulls defy gravity through mindfulness, ORA hired CODE as its zen master to win with outcome data. CODE brought to the table a stellar data-collection technology, process and the necessary industry expertise to help ORA leverage their EHR and PHI to provide better patient-centered care. #winning!

“The strength of the team is each individual member. The strength of each member is the team,” aptly stated by Coach Jackson. Our champion-caliber Chicago Bulls had a coach, a star athlete, but it still needed that remaining player in the Bull’s triangle offense strategy, that complementary asset that would complete the trifecta, the service that would allow CODE’s software to interface with ORA’s EHR.

Enter small forward Scottie Pippen. Scottie was the Bull’s leader on defense, just as Redox is the leader of data integration for CODE. SP/Redox was key to ORA’s success. Redox’s strength lay in its ability to translate all the signals and whistles between players on the court into a standardized API that remains consistent across EHR vendors and syncs with CODE seamlessly. The triangle is complete. All three players in this story adhered to the standards they set for themselves and their team, they selected their team members carefully, and if they failed, they did so quickly, picking themselves up off the hardwood and playing the ball through. The secret to the success of the six-time world-champion Chicago Bulls was not what Michael Jordan referred to as “that Zen Buddhist stuff” or skill or expertise of any one person or quality… their success came from the team coming together as a cohesive unit, working together toward the same goal.

So, to take a step back from this Dream Team analogy and shorten the timeline a bit, ORA — just one year after signing on with CODE — is well on its way to being one of the most successful case studies in PRO implementation history. They currently have 5,000 patients enrolled in its outcomes registry and a patient response rate of 75% percent! Their staff sees ZERO disruption to clinic, and CODE is successfully sending patient reports back into their EHR for physicians to review preoperatively. SLAM DUNK. Give these guys a championship ring and a Nike shoe named after them! I can see it now… the ORA Jordan. Just do it.