CAeHC Demonstrates NHIN-enabled Gateways Among Five California Health Information Exchanges
California eHealth Collaborative (CAeHC), announced a successful demonstration of five community-based health information exchange (HIE) projects in California using Nationwide Health Information Network (NHIN)-enabled gateways to securely exchange clinical health information to improve patient care.
San Francisco, CA (PRWEB) July 22, 2009
California eHealth Collaborative (CAeHC), announced a successful demonstration of five community-based health information exchange (HIE) projects in California using Nationwide Health Information Network (NHIN)-enabled gateways to securely exchange clinical health information to improve patient care. As part of the "Connecting California to Improve Patient Care" conference, held on Friday July 10 at the Krug Event Center in Healdsburg, California, CAeHC hosted the live demonstration. The 160 attendees at the conference included industry leaders with direct experience in successful deployment and operation of health information technology. Another 126 people logged into a webinar service to view the live demonstration.
Using recently released NHIN-enabled CONNECT and other NHIN-enabled Gateway software, five members of the California eHealth Collaborative demonstrated their production-ready ability to share patient clinical information for treatment purposes among regional health care provider networks in California. The public test demonstrated different scenarios showing how clinicians can provide improved care by obtaining critical clinical information from a patient's medical record even if the health data is located in another community.
"One of the key aspects that was clearly demonstrated is that the clinical data exchange is simple and clean, and yet it is accessed from within the clinical system that is familiar to the requesting provider," said John Mattison, MD, Chief Medical Information Officer for the Southern California operations of Kaiser Permanente, and a participant in the demonstration. "The beauty of this approach is that there is no training required because of how the imported information is requested, accessed, and displayed within a completely familiar user interface."
HIEs that participated in the California eHealth demonstration were: • Kaiser Permanente -- using the Kaiser Permanente NHIN Gateway • Long Beach Network for Health -- using the MedPlus NHIN Gateway • Orange County ER Connect -- using the Mirth Connect NHIN Gateway • Redwood MedNet -- using the Mirth Connect NHIN Gateway • Santa Cruz HIE -- using the Axolotl NHIN Gateway The demonstration proved that any community based HIE or provider network that conforms to the NHIN standards can securely exchange health care information for treatment purposes. Providing physicians, hospitals and safety net providers with low cost access to data exchange technology is a key component of the Obama Administration's goal of achieving "meaningful use" of electronic health records (EHR) by 2014. "We are pleased that the California eHealth Collaborative is developing the ability for its member organizations to exchange data using NHIN protocols and conventions. We believe that secure, interoperable health information exchange is going to improve health care for millions of Americans when it is widely adopted," commented Ginger Price, program director for the Nationwide Health Information Network.
"This capability is exactly what Congress had in mind when it emphasized standards-based clinical data exchange as a basis for receiving incentive payments. California eHealth Collaborative is showing Californians and the country as a whole that it's possible to share data in a safe, reliable, and affordable way to improve care," said David Lansky, CEO of Pacific Business Group on Health, and member of the Federal Health IT Policy Committee.
The HIE participants exchanged a clinical summary of each patient's care, sending electronically the type of referral document that might otherwise be faxed or sent by paper between a referring primary care physician and a specialist. The demonstration highlighted how nationally-standardized clinical data was integrated into different physician workflows at the point of care by the local systems that were chosen by the providers in each care setting. The HL7 standard electronic documents that were exchanged included discrete data elements that can be incorporated into the receiving systems. Multiple records were exchanged to show that the process is general and not a special case. The data exchange demonstration was observed by members of the California Privacy and Security Advisory Board (CalPSAB).
"The demonstration clearly showed the technology for HIE is here and ready, now we need to focus on the remaining policy issues to get HIE deployed," said Todd Ferris, MD, Privacy Officer at Stanford University School of Medicine, and a member of CalPSAB.
"The release earlier this year of the NHIN-enabled Connect Gateway software is a game changer," said Will Ross, Project manager for Redwood MedNet, host of the conference and a participant in the demonstration. "This shows that the technology to securely exchange health data is now shovel ready for field deployment, and that the key issues facing us are the legal and operating agreements between heathcare entities to exchange the data."
The exchanges were recorded in an online webinar, which is available on the California eHealth Collaborative website at www. caehc. org. The patient care scenario narrative behind each data exchange in the demonstration is also available on the Collaborative website.
For further information please contact: pr@caehc. org or the individual participants:
About California eHealth Collaborative:
California eHealth Collaborative (http://www. caehealth. org (http://www. caehealth. org)) was formed in February
2009 to accelerate statewide collaboration in the development and deployment of secure
And practical health information exchange. The mission of the California eHealth
Collaborative (CAeHC) is to provide a unified voice for health information exchange
Participants promoting secure access to clinically relevant information at the point of care
Throughout California.
About Orange County ER Connect
ER Connect was founded in 2008 to provide a fully-functioning Health Information
Exchange (HIE) and suite of supporting web-based solutions under a single, fully -
Integrated umbrella for those public/private organizations serving the "forgotten
Population" in Orange County, Calif. -- the underinsured and uninsured. SafetyNet
Connect has accomplished this through its 5 offerings, AuthMed, eCEDA, ER Connect,
Clinic Connect and Community Connect, all which assist in enrolling and tracking
Patients and their data throughout the health care community. The company's name
Reflects its connecting role among the Orange County Safety Net, a collaboration of
Health-based programs serving the uninsured and underinsured in the region. SafetyNet
Connect is a company created from the partnership between Internet and software
Solutions provider NetChemistry, Inc. and ELM Technologies - both which have a rich
History of providing software that enables collaboration between hospitals, insurance
Companies, managed care organizations, third-party administrators, physician groups and
Public sector health plans. For more information please visit www. safetynetconnect. com.
About Kaiser Permanente
Kaiser Permanente is committed to helping shape the future of health care. We are
Recognized as one of America's leading health care providers and not-for-profit health
Plans. Founded in 1945, our mission is to provide high-quality, affordable health care
Services to improve the health of our members and the communities we serve. We
Currently serve 8.6 million members in nine states and the District of Columbia. Care for
Members and patients is focused on their total health and guided by their personal
Physicians, specialists and team of caregivers. Our expert and caring medical teams are
Empowered and supported by industry-leading technology advances and tools for health
Promotion, disease prevention, state-of-the art care delivery and world-class chronic
Disease management. Kaiser Permanente is dedicated to care innovations, clinical
Research, health education and the support of community health. For more information,
Contact ravi. x.poorsina@kp. org.
About Long Beach Network for Health
Long Beach Network for Health (http://www. lbnh. org (http://www. lbnh. org)) is a non-profit organization
Created in 2003 as a health information exchange (HIE) in the Los Angeles metropolitan
Area. As a public private collaboration of physicians, hospitals, health care organizations,
And patient advocates, LBNH is committed to improving the quality and continuity of
Health care for area residents through the improved access and use of relevant clinical
Data. LBNH technology is provided by MedPlus through its Centergy health information
Exchange solution and Initiate Systems' Identity Hub for master patient index. For further
Information, please contact Laura Landry at 562-436-2923 or llandry@lbnh. org.
About Redwood MedNet
Redwood MedNet is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization located in Ukiah, California.
The founding members of Redwood MedNet are physicians and information
Technologists working in private practice, community clinics, emergency departments
And public health. The goal of Redwood MedNet is to help our Northern California
Region become a center of excellence in improved patient health outcomes through the
Adoption of appropriate information technology. For information, please contact Tanya
Laino, 707.462.6369, tlaino@redwoodmednet. org.
About the Santa Cruz Health Information Exchange
The Santa Cruz Health Information Exchange is one of the oldest and most advanced in
The country. The clinical network connects more than 600 health care doctors and staff
Including a large IPA, two local hospitals, the County Health Clinics, two national and
Two local reference labs, two imaging centers and several FQHC safety net clinics. More
Than one million web transactions occur each month on the Exchange as well as tens of
Thousands of new electronic prescriptions, electronic refill requests, pre-treatment
Authorizations, referrals and transcribed documents. For more information, please contact Bill Beighe at bbeighe(at)pmgscc. com
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