NEW YORK, Aug. 14, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- The New York eHealth Collaborative (NYeC) announced today that Mana Health, a New York City-based Health IT start-up, was awarded the vendor contract to build the Patient Portal for New Yorkers. The portal is a website through which New Yorkers will be able to access their healthcare records safely and securely online.

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The Patient Portal for New Yorkers website will become available to patients beginning in early 2014 in select parts of the state. Additional capabilities are also in development and will be rolled out over time.

Via the portal, patients whose providers are participating in the program will soon have online access to their personal healthcare data, including lab results, lists of medications, radiology reports, and other information about procedures and medical conditions from the various providers they see. Patients will also be able to decide who can access their data such as their doctors or family members.

Mana Health was awarded the contract to build the portal by an interdisciplinary team of representatives including the New York State Department of Health, NYeC specialists, and Regional Health Information Organizations (RHIOs), who reviewed all bid submissions. Mana Health's bid was deemed to have the best understanding of the needs of New Yorkers. Mana Health was also the winner of the Patient Portal for New Yorkers Design Challenge, held earlier this year. The Design Challenge was launched to source the most innovative and user-friendly portal designs and was voted on by the public at large.

Mana Health will work directly with NYeC to build the user interface for the portal website and its connection to the Statewide Health Information Network of New York (SHIN-NY). The SHIN-NY is a secure network for sharing clinical patient data across New York State.

"New Yorkers do everything else online. It's imperative that they also be able to access their healthcare data online, whenever they need it. This is the most important information a person has about him or herself," said David Whitlinger, Executive Director of NYeC. "We are excited to be partnering with Mana Health to provide patients across the state with that access."

"Our aim is to empower today's patient-consumer with an insightful and easy-to-use tool to familiarize themselves with their health data," said Chris Bradley, CEO and Co-Founder of Mana Health. "Working with the great minds at NYeC to support this statewide patient portal for New Yorkers is truly a dream come true."

For more information about the Patient Portal for New Yorkers, please visit www.patientportalfornewyorkers.org. For more information about Mana Health, please visit www.manahealth.com.

About Mana Health: Mana Health is a healthcare technology company that uses data to make healthcare work better. Based in New York City, their team is comprised of experts from across healthcare, software development, consumer experience, and analytics. Mana Health's first product, the Mana Patient Gateway, offers an engaging experience that empowers patients through their HIE, hospital, and employer data. Learn more at www.manahealth.com.

About The New York eHealth Collaborative (NYeC): NYeC is a not-for-profit organization, working in partnership with the New York State Department of Health to improve healthcare for all New Yorkers through health information technology (health IT). Founded in 2006 by healthcare leaders, NYeC receives funding from state and federal grants to serve as the focal point for health IT in the State of New York. NYeC works to develop policies and standards, to assist healthcare providers in making the shift to electronic health records, and to coordinate the creation of the Statewide Health Information Network of New York (SHIN-NY), a network to connect healthcare providers statewide. For more information about NYeC, visit www.nyehealth.org and @NYeHealth.

SOURCE New York eHealth Collaborative