Coastal Connect HIE Selects Medicity To Power Community-Wide Health Information Exchange
Five hospitals and 100 non-affiliated group practices in eastern North Carolina will exchange data and continuity of care documents
Medicity, the industry standard for health information exchange (HIE), announced recently that Coastal Connect, Inc., selected its solutions to power community-wide health information exchange (HIE) across five independent hospitals located in eastern North Carolina. The Coastal Connect HIE, a broad coalition that includes facilities, physicians and patients, will also provide Stage 1 Meaningful Use electronic health record (EHR) data to help non-affiliated physicians improve quality, safety, coordination and cost of care.
"We chose Medicity because its HIE solutions best enable us to accommodate the diverse needs of our clients, which include small community facilities in medically underserved rural areas, large acute care hospitals, and EHR- and paper-based physician offices," said Sam Spicer, M.D., board chairman of Coastal Connect HIE and Vice President of Medical Affairs at New Hanover Regional Medical Center (NHRMC). "As physicians, we know how important it is to get accurate medical information as quickly as possible in order to provide quality patient care. The Coastal Connect HIE will give physicians access to critical patient information quickly, easily and securely. Because of this, they will be able to diagnose and treat patients in a more timely manner and eliminate redundant tests and procedures."
The Coastal Connect HIE (CCHIE) will initially deploy Medicity's iNexx and Novo Grid solutions, as well as cloud services to both create and enable queries of continuity of care document (CCD) repositories. With iNexx, providers in the CCHIE community will be able to perform eReferrals, establish and define their own virtual care team networks, and take advantage of Medicity's suite of applications certified to facilitate all Stage 1 requirements for meaningful use of EHRs. The Novo Grid will enable all hospitals participating in CCHIE to exchange information - such as laboratory and radiology results - with providers on the iNexx platform and to integrate with disparate EHR systems.
New Hanover Regional Medical Center, Dosher Memorial Hospital, Pender Memorial Hospital, Sampson Regional Medical Center and Southeastern Regional Medical Center will be the initial participants in the HIE, along with 100 non-affiliated group practices. The HIE will roll out additional Medicity technologies - including orders functionality and a full community health record - in future implementation stages.
"We are committed to using technology to advance patient care in our community," said Avery Cloud, NHRMC's CIO. "By linking our ambulatory HealthPort EMR with other electronic medical records in the region, the Coastal Connect HIE will allow us to deliver the highest quality care to our patients while they are in our facility or receiving treatment from other providers."
Coastal Connect HIE is a project of the Coastal Carolinas Health Alliance (CCHA), a collaborative group composed of 12 hospitals in North and South Carolina dedicated to enhancing the health and wellness of the approximately one million residents living along the coast of the two states.
"We are pleased to partner with Coastal Connect HIE to transform community-wide care by enabling clinicians to make more informed decisions through real-time exchange of patient data," said Brent Dover, Medicity's president.
About Coastal Connect Health Information Exchange
Coastal Connect Health Information Exchange is a regional collaboration of healthcare professionals in and around eastern North Carolina for the purpose of sharing electronic medical information and services. By connecting healthcare professionals to other professionals and to consumers, it is our hope to increase the access, quality and efficiency of patient care through community interoperability and achievement of meaningful use.
About Medicity
Medicity, the industry standard for health information exchange (HIE), is the leading innovator and largest provider of HIE technology - with more than 750 hospitals and 250,000 end users in its connected ecosystem. Medicity's solutions empower hospitals, physicians and HIEs with secure access to and exchange of health information - improving the quality and efficiency of patient care locally, regionally and nationally. For more information, visit www.medicity.com
SOURCE: Medicity