Boulder County Expands Use of Health Information Exchange, Connecting First Physician Office

BOULDER, Colo., Sept. 21, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Alpine Urology, a Boulder-based physician office, is now actively receiving time-sensitive test results and other important patient data through the health information exchange (HIE) maintained by CORHIO (Colorado Regional Health Information Organization). This is the first physician practice in Boulder County and across Colorado's Front Range to use data provided by Colorado's statewide HIE.

"Alpine Urology is very excited to be the first medical practice in Colorado to leverage data shared through the CORHIO network to improve the quality and timeliness of care for our patients," said Bill Carlson, Alpine Urology practice administrator. "We know we will soon be joined by other health care providers in Boulder and around the state who are working cooperatively to provide Colorado citizens with better, and more cost-effective, patient care using electronic health records and health information exchange."

When completely built out, the HIE will allow health care providers across Colorado's Front Range, Eastern Plains and eastern mountain communities, such as San Luis Valley and Summit County, to more quickly and easily exchange patient data than the paper-based methods that are common today. HIE uses a highly sophisticated, secure process to electronically exchange data among all types of health care providers, medical laboratories and imaging centers. Compared to faxing and mailing information, patients whose health care providers use the HIE to share data will receive higher quality care, and without treatment delays that can be associated with paper records. The HIE will also help participating medical providers to eliminate unnecessary or duplicative tests, saving money for patients, and ultimately, for insurance companies, employers and providers.

Through use of CORHIO's network, physicians and other medical care providers have access to important health information about their patients including hospital discharge notifications, lab test results, x-ray, MRI and other imaging reports, physician transcription reports and referral information. Later the network will be upgraded to include patient medication lists, allergies and immunizations.

The data available to medical professionals about each patient in the network will grow each time the patient visits a participating health care provider and additional information is recorded electronically.

"The health care providers in Boulder County have been collaborating for several years on ways to improve the health of residents in their community and they decided that health information exchange was one of the tools that would help them reach their goals," said Phyllis Albritton, executive director for CORHIO. "We are excited to be helping them in their efforts and applaud Alpine Urology and Boulder Community Hospital for being the first physician practice and hospital to connect their electronic health records systems through the CORHIO HIE."

Alpine Urology connected to the CORHIO HIE through their Greenway Medical Technologies PrimeSUITE® electronic health record (EHR) system. This allows the physicians and medical staff at the office to seamlessly and efficiently access their patients' HIE data, saving time and reducing the chance of errors that can more easily happen with paper-based information sharing. Greenway® is an Approved Integration Vendor with the Colorado Regional Extension Center (CO-REC), an initiative of CORHIO that helps physician practices adopt and meaningfully use EHRs.

About CORHIO

CORHIO is dedicated to improving health care quality for all Coloradans through health information exchange (HIE). As the state designated entity for HIE, CORHIO collaborates with all health care stakeholders including physicians, hospitals, clinics, public health, nursing homes, home health, laboratories, health plans and patients to improve care coordination through secure systems and processes for sharing clinical information. CO-REC, a CORHIO initiative, assists primary care providers in adopting, implementing and becoming meaningful users of electronic health record (EHR) systems. CORHIO is a not-for-profit supported in large part by grants, including awards from The Colorado Health Foundation and from federal ARRA HITECH funds. CORHIO's technical infrastructure is built on industry-leading HIE technology developed and maintained by Medicity. For more information about CORHIO, please visit www.corhio.org.

About Alpine Urology

Alpine Urology, P.C. is a practice dedicated to its patients' urologic health. At Alpine Urology specialized care, state of the art equipment and the newest techniques are combined in a cost effective, friendly atmosphere. For more information please visit www.alpineurology.net

SOURCE CORHIO