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HEALTHeLINK releases 2018 report to community

Submitted

Tue, Feb 26th 2019 02:35 pm

Available at wnyhealthelink.com/2018

Guest Editorial by HEALTHeLINK

As the health information exchange (HIE) for Western New York, HEALTHeLINK continues to serve physicians and health care organizations in the secure exchange of clinical information. As highlighted in its 2018 “Report to the Community,” HEALTHeLINK is focused on enhancing patient care through streamlining care coordination, improving the quality of data, and exploring how best to serve the health care community of the future through population health measures and reporting.

“Making sure that providers have their patients’ most complete and correct clinical information at the point of care via HEALTHeLINK continues to be critical for improving care quality and mitigating health care costs,” said Dan Porreca, HEALTHeLINK’s executive director. “With our health information exchange foundation well established here in Western New York, HEALTHeLINK is taking the next steps to ensure the quality of information for ongoing effective patient care and for advancing population health initiatives in our community.”

A few of the major highlights from HEALTHeLINK’s 2018 “Report to the Community” include:

•More than 350 practices continue to deepen their utilization by uploading patient data directly from their electronic health records (EHRs) to HEALTHeLINK, allowing for more complete patient medical records that other treating providers can access.

•HEALTHeLINK’s results delivery service, which enables practices and care coordination networks to receive their patients’ medical results directly into their EHRs from other linked sources, increased more than 50 percent over the last year.

•More than 2.5 million alert notifications, which included real-time notification on patients’ admissions, discharges, and transfers – including local emergency department visits, were delivered to participating providers in 2018.

•As the result of a pilot study conducted with six practices to assess what impact incorporating HIE into office workflow would have, up to seven hours a week were saved with patient chart preparation and pre-visit planning, and a reduction of up to 30 minutes in patient cycle time was realized by accessing test results and records in advance via HEALTHeLINK.

•HEALTHeLINK is developing a population health system to support clinical transformation at the practice level. Once active, the system will integrate clinical and claims data and enable practices to monitor their quality and cost of care.

To view the 2018 HEALTHeLINK “Report to the Community,” visit wnyhealthelink.com/2018.

HEALTHeLINK is a collaboration among hospitals, physicians, health plans and other health care providers in the eight counties of Western New York to securely exchange clinical information to improve the quality of care, enhance patient safety and mitigate health care costs. HEALTHeLINK is a qualified entity of the Statewide Health Information Network for New York, which enables providers to access their patients’ data from across the state. HEALTHeLINK is also a founding member of the Strategic Health Information Exchange Collaborative, the national trade association of health information exchanges. Providers and patients can visit wnyhealthelink.com.

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