NHS Scotland enhances data connectivity with Rhapsody EMPI

NHS Scotland has implemented Rhapsody’s Enterprise Master Person Index (EMPI) solution to help improve the connectivity of healthcare data across its systems.

The cloud-based solution, developed in association with global IT consultancy and business process services company Wipro UK Limited was rolled out in November 2023, to enable a complete overview of a patient’s health journey within NHS Scotland’s digital healthcare infrastructure.

To reduce errors, the Rhapsody EMPI manages the patient identification process across multiple healthcare systems and organisations with the aim of supporting healthcare organisations to trust the quality of their identity data, enabling personalised care, promoting health equity and advancing public health initiatives.

Rhapsody EMPI is hosted in Microsoft Azure and was implemented by NHS National Services Scotland on behalf of NHS Scotland.

Steven Flockhart, digital and security director at NHS National Services Scotland, said: “Keeping all healthcare information related to each person updated, complete, and correct is a critical factor in supporting safe, effective, and efficient patient care.

“The capability of Rhapsody EMPI to enable ease of use, whilst ensuring connected, secure, and comprehensive patient data, is helping support decision making across NHS Scotland boards in a whole manner of ways, supporting the ability to deliver good patient outcomes.”

Rhapsody worked with NHS Scotland and Wipro to develop a custom EMPI solution to replace the existing legacy application. This ensured that the solution would enable effective updates and offer scalability within the digital health infrastructure of NHS Scotland.

Sagnik Bhattacharya, CEO of Rhapsody, said: “Rhapsody has created a modern technology solution that is easier to maintain and manage while ensuring accurate person identification, data integrity, and interoperability.

“This partnership helps ensure a complete person view for NHS Scotland, supporting them in continuing to deliver the highest-quality healthcare for nearly six million Scottish citizens.”

Omkar Nisal, Wipro managing director UK & Ireland, added: “We see it not just as a technological improvement, but as a commitment to the future of healthcare in Scotland. This transformation symbolises our dedication to innovation, efficiency, and, ultimately, the wellbeing of patients.”

Rhapsody returned to its origins in 2023. The company was founded in 2018, before rebranding as Lyniate in 2019 following a merger with Corepoint Health. After four year it returned to its original name.