News Feature | May 22, 2014

Ohio Scores 90% HIE Participation

Katie Wike

By Katie Wike, contributing writer

CHIME Case Study Details Steps Of Hospital EHR Deployment

Ninety percent of hospitals in Ohio take part in some type of health information exchange, and four of five Ohio residents now fall under the data exchange in some way.

A new issue brief from the Center for Health Affairs says the state of Ohio’s physicians have achieved near total participation in health information exchanges. Ninety percent of hospitals in the state are now participating in an HIE.

“Ohio has made tremendous advancements in its implementation of an HIE. Initially funded by HITECH dollars, CliniSync is the statewide health information exchange, which 141 Ohio hospitals and roughly 1,000 independent physicians use to transfer patient data electronically. Thanks to CliniSync, more than 87 percent of Ohioans are in some way using the state’s HIE through their provider,” notes the brief.

According to EHR Intelligence, the HIE system is able to exchange lab and pathology data, radiology reports, referral information, allergy lists, care summaries, and care plans, as well as discharge summaries and progress notes. Soon, it will also be adding admission and discharge notifications from hospitals to the list.

The brief quotes a recent report from CliniSync which says, “The overarching benefit of health information exchange is the ability to get information to a physician or other clinician at the point of care, when and where the primary care doctor, emergency room physician or nurse practitioner needs it – despite the patient’s disparate geographic visits to different hospitals, clinics or practices.

“In many ways Ohio’s health information exchange is a micro version of what the country hopes to achieve; wherein health records follow the patient regardless of their geographic location,” the brief adds. “True interoperability means using different systems and software to exchange data across clinicians, labs, hospitals, pharmacies, and patients no matter what system or application is being used. As more vendors and providers form agreements as those in Ohio have, the momentum to develop a national HIE becomes even greater.”