Alere Accountable Care Solutions to Provide Health Information Network to Children's Care Alliance for Underserved Children

LEHIGH VALLEY, Pa., July 9, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- The Children's Care Alliance (CCA) is working closely with Alere Accountable Care Solutions (ACS) to create a health information exchange (HIE) for underserved children in the Lehigh Valley area of northeastern Pennsylvania. Backed by the support of the business community, the HIE represents a first-of-its-kind collaboration between healthcare organizations and the education community and is poised to move toward improving the healthcare of children in the region.

"Many children living in this area suffer from chronic conditions including asthma and obesity. The health care systems and community organizations need to rally together," says Mike Cirba, CIO, Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Network and current CCA Chairperson. "The problem is that care delivery is disconnected.  Individual health records are scattered among multiple access points of care.  And, unfortunately, vital clinical information is often not available to the local physicians, health systems, and the school health rooms that see these kids. By working with Alere ACS, we are committed to bringing key clinical data sets together for clinicians across multiple organizations."

The Alere ACS HIE technology will allow seamless exchange of student electronic health records between different hospital emergency rooms, clinics, physician offices and school districts in Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley.   The HIE, branded as the Virtual Health Village, is expected to help clinicians more expediently access needed information, which should also result in the improved coordination of care.   

Twenty-seven percent of the 32,000 Bethlehem Area and Allentown school district students change schools each year, contributing to the problem of fragmented pediatric records.   Alere ACS enables the data sharing and resulting care continuity by providing full HIE capabilities, such as a clinical data repository with direct secure messaging. The innovative project will assure better care of chronic conditions such as asthma and diabetes and will boost immunization rates.

The Children's Care Alliance anticipates greater patient and provider satisfaction and lower healthcare costs by reducing duplicate tests and procedures. In addition to cutting student absence from school, the HIE will benefit parents and regional employers with fewer missed workdays.

"The Children's Care Alliance is a great example of what can happen as healthcare organizations rally together to truly improve the health of a community. Alere ACS is pleased to assist in this cause by offering our advanced technology that can transform the organization's vision into a reality," says Sumit Nagpal, President & CEO of Alere ACS. "We have a successful track record of partnering with organizations to provide interoperable health information technology solutions, such as our innovative HIE, EHR & PHR.  We are truly honored to be able to use this technology to do such important work, ultimately helping to improve the quality of care to underserved children in this community."

About The Children's Care Alliance
The Children's Care AllianceTM (CCA) is a collaboration of local hospitals, school districts and care providers who, with the support of the Lehigh Valley Business Coalition on Health Care (LVBCHC), are committed to improving the quality of children's healthcare through collaboration and technology. The Virtual Health Village™ is the CCA's health information exchange (HIE) in which children's health care information is shared electronically among healthcare providers in local emergency rooms, clinics, physician offices and school health rooms. Electronic sharing will assure faster access and more complete and up-to-date healthcare information to save time, eliminate duplicate tests and procedures, and greatly improve initial and follow-up care. Current members include Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Network, Children's Hospital at Lehigh Valley Hospital, Sacred Heart HealthCare System, St. Luke's University Health Network as well as the Allentown and Bethlehem Area school districts, with a combined student population of about 32,000.

About Alere Accountable Care Solutions
Alere Accountable Care Solutions (formerly Wellogic), a subsidiary of Alere Inc., delivers health information solutions that help provider organizations meet CMS Meaningful Use and Accountable Care requirements, achieve Triple Aim, and improve care coordination across the healthcare continuum. The Alere ACS portfolio of interoperable health information solutions has been the confident choice of doctors across the US. For more information, visit www.alereacs.com.

Media Contact:

Emily Eider
Marketing and Communications Coordinator
Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Network
610-776-3553
[email protected]

SOURCE Alere Accountable Care Solutions