Having access to a patient’s full medical history is important to provide the best care. But when patients, especially those who are poor or otherwise vulnerable, see disconnected providers, often their medical records aren’t available or complete.
A new health information exchange in Washington, D.C., including Providence, a Ministry Market of Ascension, aims to address that problem by giving medical providers across the area immediate access to information about their patients’ care received at other locations, allowing them to provide more timely and effective treatment while avoiding expensive duplication of services.
The Capital Partners in Care – Community Health Information Exchange (CPC-HIE) connects electronic health records from Providence Hospital with those of five community health centers and the Capital Clinical Integrated Network (CCIN) care coordination organization.
According to Amy Freeman, Chair of the CCIN Board and CEO of Providence, one of the primary goals of CCIN was to create – through a large coalition of community providers, hospitals and payers – a robust health information exchange.
“By providing real-time clinical data from care sites across the continuum, our doctors and care givers have essential data at their fingertips,” Freeman said. “There is no doubt that patient care is now more coordinated, more timely and less fragmented. This is a critical tool to improve the health of our community and reduce the overall cost of care.”
The data exchange is secure and meets all federal requirements for health information privacy. Providers can access the shared information within their clinics’ existing electronic health records systems, rather than using a separate network. This “single sign-on authentication” reduces the need for additional training and makes it easier for clinicians to use the system efficiently.
