What it does
Four jobs, and one rule that governs all of them.
MyCareFriend reads the clinical records you already keep, checks them for the faults that quietly ruin reporting, works out the measures you are accountable for, and shows you where the gaps are. The rule that governs the whole thing is that it will not give you a figure it cannot stand behind.
It reads your records
Records come across from your existing system into one shared structure, so that a visit recorded in one place and a result recorded in another can finally be counted together. Nothing is written back. Your system stays the record of truth.
Today: proven against test records. No live practice is connected yet.
It checks them first
Before anything is counted, the records are examined for the faults that make reporting wrong rather than merely late. Dates that contradict each other. Values that could not have come from a person. Entries that were never really filled in. The same patient arriving twice under two identities.
Today: running on every batch, findings recorded with the record they came from.
It works out your measures
Two to begin with: patients returning to hospital within thirty days, and diabetes control. Each one shows the number of patients it covers, the period it covers, and how it was worked out.
Today: useful for managing your own performance. Not yet suitable for filing with an agency.
It watches itself
If a scheduled update stops arriving, or a check starts failing more than it used to, that is raised as an issue with a timestamp. It reports what it found. It does not quietly correct your records and tell you afterwards.
Today: running continuously.
Connecting to your system
The honest version of what this involves.
Every certified record system in the United States is required to provide a way for software like this to read from it. That requirement is the reason a small practice can be served at all.
What that requirement covers
Clinical information. Visits, conditions, medicines, results, allergies. It is the same across systems, which is why we do not need a different product for each one.
What it does not cover
Anything about your billing, your schedule, your staffing or your finances. Those live behind arrangements that cost more than most small practices will ever agree to. This is why we are building the route through spreadsheets and documents, and why we regard it as the main path rather than a fallback.
You have to ask for it
Access is granted by whoever administers your record system, not by us. We cannot arrange it in advance, and any vendor who tells you they already have a connection to your system is describing something other than what happens. We will tell you exactly what to ask for and who to ask.
It is slower than anyone admits
Published research on organisations doing this deliberately, with technical staff, found a wide range before the first successful read. Plan in weeks. Anyone quoting you an afternoon has not done it.
We name no record system on this page. Which ones we have worked with, and what each involves, is a conversation to have about your specific situation rather than a table to publish.
What we have not done
The list we would want to see.
- No security attestation
- We hold none. When we do, this page will name the auditor, the standard and the date, and you will be able to ask for the report.
- No agency ready measures
- The two measures are not risk adjusted and do not apply the exclusions a submission requires. Use them to manage. Do not file them.
- No live connection yet
- Everything demonstrated runs on generated records. The first real connection will be made with a design partner, deliberately and slowly.
- No patient information held
- None has ever been loaded. None will be until the agreement governing it is signed and the controls behind it are checked by somebody other than us.
- No second factor at sign in
- Sign in is protected against repeated guessing, but a second factor is not available yet. It is required before any real patient information is accepted.
- No customers
- Nobody is using this in practice today. When somebody is, they will be named here with their permission, and you may call them.