Capital Area Collaborative for Care Transitions and Great Lakes Health Information Exchange Receive Health Information Technology Award

EAST LANSING, Mich., Dec. 10, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Great Lakes Health Information Exchange (GLHIE) and the Capital Area Collaborative for Care Transitions (CACCT) were recognized by the Michigan Health Council with the first in a series of awards, for the development and implementation of a program aimed at reducing hospital readmissions.

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The CACCT's Community-based Care Transitions Program (CCTP) was presented with the "Building Michigan's Health Care Workforce Award" in the Health Information Technology category.  The goals of the CCTP program, funded by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), include reducing hospital readmissions of Medicare participants when "preventable" by at least 20% compared to 2010 figures.

As part of the CCTP program, GLHIE supports the needs of the participating Medicare patients by allowing providers across the health care continuum to exchange clinical data. GLHIE provides health information technology connecting Bridge Care Coordinators, hospital discharge personnel and primary care physicians. Additionally, through GLHIE, clinicians will have access to patient data to ensure care coordination for patients for the first 30 days following hospital discharge.

"The CCTP initiative is an opportunity for the Tri-County area health care community to work closely together to ease transitions between different care settings for Medicare patients and more effectively use limited health care resources," said Penny Englerth, Treasurer of the Capital Area Collaborative for Care Transitions and Implementation Consultant for GLHIE.

This program links patients with Bridge Care Coordinators from the Tri-County Office on Aging, who follow each patient through a 30-day transition period.  Bridge Care Coordinators help the patient navigate the health care system and arrange the necessary resources to prevent unnecessary hospital readmissions.  

About the CACCT
The Collaborative was an outgrowth of the Michigan Peer Review Organization (MPRO) initiative to bring together community organizations to reduce re-hospitalizations of those with high risk, chronic, medical conditions. Current Members include hospital systems, long term care facilities, home health care companies, Tri-County Office on Aging, MPRO, Great Lakes Health Information Exchange, third party payers, pharmaceutical companies, and others. The purpose of the Collaborative is to improve care transitions across all settings in the capital area, emphasizing quality of life and self-determination, reducing readmission rates and increasing collaboration of multiple health care providers through educational activities, publications, meetings and workshops. 

About Great Lakes Health Information Exchange
The Great Lakes Health Information Exchange is a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the quality and accessibility of healthcare by facilitating the authorized and secure electronic access and retrieval of critical clinical information to healthcare providers. With more than 3 million individuals in their master patient index, GLHIE continues to expand into new communities and forge partnerships across Michigan. More at http://www.glhie.org.

For more information contact:
Carol Parker, Executive Director
Great Lakes Health Information Exchange
271 Woodland Pass, Suite 110
East Lansing, MI
517-347-3373
[email protected]

SOURCE Great Lakes Health Information Exchange