SMART on FHIR App Facilitates Interfacility Transports From Within EHR

Priority Dispatch Corp., a provider of emergency dispatch protocol systems, has launched a SMART on FHIR application that enables care teams at Epic-based health systems to coordinate air and ground ambulance interfacility transfers directly within their electronic health record.

Priority Dispatch said the Medical Transfer Protocol (MTP) leverages its evidence-based triage protocols to ensure the right resources are dispatched to the right patients at the right time. The company added that the MTP is the only call-processing system that allows ICD-10 billing codes to be attached at the dispatch level, streamlining both clinical decision-making and revenue cycle management.

The MTP SMART on FHIR app is built on VectorCare's SoFaaS (SMART on FHIR as a Service) platform and brings this protocol-driven approach directly into Epic's clinical workflow. It allows transfer center coordinators, hospitalists, and care teams to initiate and manage interfacility transfers—including specialized unscheduled up-care transports, routine scheduled transfers, and mental health transfers—without leaving the EHR.

"By launching our MTP SMART on FHIR app in the Epic Showroom and on VectorCare's marketplace, we are extending the power of structured, protocol-based dispatch directly into the clinical environment where transfer decisions are made, said Chris Murdock, president of Priority Dispatch Corp., in a statement. “This integration eliminates workflow gaps and ensures that patient acuity data drives resource allocation from the very first moment a transfer is initiated."

The MTP system encompasses three core protocols: Protocol 45 for specialized unscheduled up-care transports, Protocol 46 for routine scheduled interfacility transfers, and Protocol 47 for mental health transfers.

The SMART on FHIR integration ensures that patient medication requirements, equipment needs, and bariatric considerations captured during triage are automatically documented within the EHR, reducing follow-up calls to facilities and easing pressure on billing departments.