UPMC, among the country's best known health systems, and Bellevue, Wash.-based population health company Caradigm are working together to take the frustration out of navigating technology and provide physicians a way to better care for their patients.

Together, they are developing a mobile Windows 8.1 tablet-based platform that lets physicians, with the touch of a screen, instantly switch among different clinical applications while maintaining patient context. The interoperability platform is designed to streamline clinical workflows so that physicians spend less time figuring out what to click next and more time caring for their patients, UPMC and Cardigm executives say.

Microsoft and Intel are also supporting the project.

Cardiologists at UPMC are testing the platform and its ability to navigate among Cerner’s electronic health record and two new UPMC-developed applications that allow physicians to see relevant patient information pulled from multiple data systems and to follow a recommended “clinical pathway” to treat a patient for certain diseases.

Using Microsoft Surface Pro 2 tablets at the point of care, the physicians are able to sign in just once to a clinical desktop and move rapidly back and forth among applications to perform a variety of tasks related to caring for the patient, according to UPMC. With the correct patient record automatically displayed in each application, the cardiologists maintain patient context, saving them steps and time.

[See also: UPMC launches $100M personalized care initiative.]

"Our clinicians demand and deserve applications that enhance patient care, rather than detract from it," said Rebecca Kaul, president of UPMC‘s Technology Development Center, in a statement. The technology center develops and commercializes next-generation healthcare technology with industry partners.

"Working with Caradigm, Microsoft, and Intel, it was critical that we find a way to dramatically simplify the workflow of our clinicians and give them time back to spend with patients," Kaul said.

Oscar Marroquin, MD, a cardiologist participating in the pilot and executive director of clinical analytics and new models of care at UPMC, said in a news release the team aimed to deliver a solution that would let clinicians easily view and interpret the full "patient story" and act on that information rapidly to improve care.