Continuum Health Partners Collaborates With Caradigm to Implement Innovative IT to Improve Care Coordination and Patient Experience

NEW YORK and BELLEVUE, Wash., Oct. 10, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Recently named one of the 2012 "Most Wired" healthcare systems in the United States according to a nationwide survey,^* Continuum Health Partners Inc. has implemented new information technology (IT) solutions from Caradigm to help improve care coordination across healthcare facilities and keep patients well and at home.

Continuum Health Partners comprises five distinguished voluntary teaching hospitals including Beth Israel Medical Center, Roosevelt Hospital, St. Luke's Hospital and the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary. Caradigm is a joint venture formed by GE Healthcare and Microsoft Corp. in June 2012.

"We're excited to partner with Caradigm to empower our physicians and patients with information they can use to make the best decisions," said Mark Moroses, senior vice president and chief information officer for Continuum. "Opening up access to patient data allows us to orchestrate the treatment of the people we serve across the care continuum and ultimately help them lead healthier lives."

To better support team-based care for patients, Continuum Health Partners has deployed Caradigm eHealth solutions designed to enable physicians to collaborate with each other and with patients more easily through the secure exchange of clinical data.

Using eHealth Community Desktop, a Web-based clinical portal, emergency department physicians can rapidly access and view patient history, discharge summaries, lab results, radiology reports and other patient data stored in multiple disparate IT systems across the four hospitals. This data is integrated by the eHealth Information Exchange, a secure, standards-based technology infrastructure that uses a patient-matching system and document repository to enable the exchange of clinical data from any system.

On this eHealth foundation, Continuum Health Partners has implemented shared treatment plans to enable physicians to better coordinate the care of patients with complex or chronic conditions such as diabetes or heart disease. Continuum Health Partners also has activated a notification system that alerts providers when there is any new information about their patients added to the eHealth Information Exchange, offering opportunities to coordinate care with other physicians.

"Having immediate access to a patient's medical history is critical to navigating the optimal course of care, especially in emergency situations," said Dr. Gregg Husk, Continuum's chief medical information officer and chairman of the Department of Emergency Medicine at Beth Israel Medical Center, one of Continuum's flagship hospitals. "Information can make an impact on the medications and tests we administer and also help us put patients on the best path forward for ongoing treatment with a primary care provider."

"Continuum Health Partners shares our vision of connected health communities," said Michael Simpson, CEO of Caradigm. "The ability to exchange and analyze clinical data across care settings is fundamental to improving the quality of patient care and reducing costs. We look forward to seeing the impact of Caradigm solutions on Continuum Health Partners' processes and on the lives of the people they serve."

Future capabilities currently planned by Continuum Health Partners include implementing a patient portal that allows patients to receive and store copies of their personal health histories and hospital visits.

About Continuum Health Partners
Continuum Health Partners, with an annual operating budget of over $3 billion, was created in January 1997 as the parent company for the partnership between five distinguished voluntary hospitals: Beth Israel Medical Center-Milton and Carroll Petrie Division, Beth Israel Brooklyn, St. Luke's Hospital, Roosevelt Hospital and New York Eye & Ear Infirmary.

The Continuum network also encompasses ambulatory health centers and group and private practice settings throughout the New York metropolitan region. Continuum operates more than 2,700 certified beds; provides for over 650,000 days of inpatient care and over 1.3 million outpatient visits; has more than 4,500 affiliated physicians; and a work force of over 15,500 individuals, making it the sixth largest private employer in the New York metropolitan region. Additional information about Continuum is available at www.chpnyc.org.

About Caradigm
Formed by GE Healthcare and Microsoft Corp. in June 2012, Caradigm is a 50–50 joint venture focused on enabling health systems and payers to drive continuous improvements in care. Caradigm software helps healthcare professionals across care settings to use data to gain critical insights, collaborate with each other and with patients, and to develop and implement innovative care solutions. Amalga, eHealth Information Exchange and Vergence — and applications built by partners to extend these products — give clinicians, administrators and finance teams timely access to key information, helping them to take steps to solve some of healthcare's biggest challenges, including chronic disease management, preventable hospital readmissions and hospital acquired conditions, and to advance integrated, accountable care. Caradigm is headquartered in Bellevue, Wash. For more information about the company, visit http://www.caradigm.com.

^* Continuum Health Partners was named one of the Most Wired Hospitals in the 2012 survey conducted by the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives and American Hospital Association. More information can be found in the July issue of Hospitals & Health Networks magazine.

SOURCE Caradigm