Local hospitals develop health information sharing network
DANVILLE- Three local hospitals have formed a network that allows staff at each hospital to share a patient’s critical health information during an emergency.
Bloomsburg Hospital, Geisinger Health System and Shamokin Area Community Hospital are the first members of this Regional Health Information Exchange.
A major part of the project includes creating a community master patient list. This protected list helps physicians identify patients who received care at one of the network hospitals. To link this information, a secure web-based browser has been built that allows emergency department physicians to see patient information from all three participating hospitals.
“Our mission is clear,” said Dr. James Walker, Geisinger’s chief medical information officer. “We need to create an environment to facilitate secure and timely access to comprehensive healthcare information.”
Bloomsburg, Geisinger and Shamokin are also members of the Central Penn Health Information Collaborative (CPHIC), an umbrella organization overseeing the development of the state’s first Regional Health Information Exchange. Other Collaborative members include Evangelical Community Hospital, Moses Taylor Hospital, Family Practice Center, P.C. and Jersey Shore Hospital.
“Providing a secure web browser where physicians can access and update patient information is the future of healthcare,” said Rob Theiss, Bloomsburg Hospital’s chief information officer. “Secure, up-to-date information translates into more efficient patient care during an emergency.”
Members of the Exchange said it is a priority to respect all patients’ privacy and keep their health information confidential.
“We are taking every possible precaution to protect patient healthcare information,” Theiss said. “Our efforts ensure that the information remains confidential and that it is available when needed.”
A physician can look up a patient in this system and see exactly what doctors and facilities have treated the patient. The Exchange is the first phase of a region-wide plan to share health information between various healthcare providers.
“Time is a very critical factor when dealing with emergency patients,” said Dr. Patrick D. Pugliese, emergency services medical director for Shamokin Area Community Hospital. “The new system allows us to view and/or retrieve vital patient information in seconds, which enhances the quality of care we are able to deliver.”
Pugliese added: “The system is quite remarkable and very beneficial for our patients. I commend the efforts of the three medical facilities for taking the initiative to create it.”
With seven healthcare providers already members of the Collaborative, the goal is to include all medical centers in a 31-county region in central and northeastern Pennsylvania, 53 hospitals and more than 9,000 physicians.
The original CPHIC project began in 2004 when the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) awarded a $200,000 planning grant. Geisinger subsequently received $1.5 million from the AHRQ to implement the plan of sharing secure health information among the three hospitals with the Exchange. Matching funds make the total project commitment at $3 million.
These early successes relating to CPHIC prompted the Pennsylvania Department of Health to fund two additional state grants totaling $500,000. With this money, CPHIC plans to include additional healthcare organizations in the Exchange and make further developments with the web-based browser.
For information about the Central Penn Health Information Collaborative, visit www.cphic.org