N.C. Entrepreneur Receives Special Recognition from NC House Speaker for Positive Patient Impact via N.C. Health Information Exchange

CARY, N.C., Aug. 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Cary Medical Management (CMM) announced today that its CEO, Dr. Siu Shing Tong, was the recipient of two distinguished awards at the International Leadership Foundation-North Carolina Chapter Annual Event that took place in Raleigh, N.C., on August 20, 2022. Two hundred fifty N.C. citizens and government leaders including House Speaker Tim Moore, State Treasurer Dale Folwell, State Supreme Court Chief Justice Paul Newby, State Senator Dave Craven, and State Representative Erin Paré attended this event.

Dr. Tong was one of two recipients of the Entrepreneur Award, a distinguished award given to individuals who exemplify the unlimited potential of Asian Americans to achieve their dreams.

Moore, the Speaker of the N.C. House of Representatives, also presented a "Certificate of Special Recognition" to Dr. Tong for "bringing your entrepreneurial spirit and success to North Carolina, and your leadership in Cary Medical Management's pioneer endeavor to utilize the State's Health Information Exchange to positively impact the health of our citizens."

Under the leadership of Speaker Moore, North Carolina is the first state in the U.S. to mandate healthcare providers to share data via the state health information exchange (HIE).

Dr. Tong, an Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineer with a Ph.D. from MIT, is a world-renowned creator of Software Robot technology that has been used in the design of products ranging from airplanes to cars to light bulbs. His creation earned him a top-25 invention worldwide designation in 1998. Now a healthcare entrepreneur, Dr. Tong is infusing his Software Robot technology into primary care to identify missing patient data from practices across the state that is available in the HIE.

"The clinics under CMM management and elsewhere don't always have the information necessary to treat their patients effectively," said Dr. Tong. "NCHealthConnex, North Carolina's state-designated health information exchange, has a massive amount of patient information from clinics and hospitals across the state. It's a tremendous resource that can drastically and positively impact patient care."

"NCHealthConnex allows us to have a full view of patients never before available. Still, the volume of data is so massive a physician can't digest it without some intelligent filtering," said Dr. Alex Tse, Chief Medical Officer of CMM and a practicing physician in Generations Family Practice, the umbrella practice for multiple clinics across six North Carolina cities, all managed by CMM. "CMM uses robotic technology to compare the diagnoses codes in our clinics' EHRs to the ones in NCHealthConnex. The technology then inserts the diagnoses codes considered more severe into the individual patient records in the EHR. Having all the relevant diagnoses available ensures our medical staff can provide the highest quality and most appropriate treatments."

NCHealthConnex also provides patient discharge notifications to CMM's clinics so that CMM's providers can immediately reach out to patients after hospitalization. Patient outreach ensures discharge instructions are understood and followed, and medications are reconciled. Another potential high-impact project CMM will use NCHealthConnex for is drug-to-drug interaction. The FDA cites studies showing that from 7,000 to 100,000 deaths occur annually in the U.S. from serious drug interaction events.

"Without the perseverance of North Carolina's Health Information Exchange Authority (NC HIEA) to deliver the valuable data in NCHealthConnex, our clinics would still be treating patients with incomplete information. We're fortunate to live in a state where the legislature and state government work so hard to ensure better healthcare for all its citizens. The relationship has been a tremendous collaboration benefitting our citizens/patients," said Dr. Tong.

Cary Medical Management

Established in 2019, Cary Medical Management was created by a group of experienced clinic operators, physicians, and executives of leading healthcare technology companies with a vision to drive home the "trillion-dollar transformation to value-based-care" promised by the Affordable Care Act. CMM's role is to leverage their wealth of healthcare experience and strong financial backing to ensure their portfolio clinics succeed in the new era of healthcare quality and value. https://carymso.com/

International Leadership Foundation & NC Chapter

ILF is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that promotes the civic awareness, public service, and economic effectiveness of the Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) community. Our mission: develop young leaders in the United States, Asia, and other Pacific Rim countries in the fields of public service, entrepreneurship, and international business and politics through a network of business and community leaders. https://www.ilfnational.org/; https://www.ilfnational-nc.org/

NC Health Information Exchange Authority

NC HIEA operates North Carolina's state-designated health information exchange, NC HealthConnex, a secure, standardized electronic system in which providers can share important patient health information. Use of this system promotes the access, exchange and analysis of health information. NC HealthConnex brings added value to health care conversations happening at all levels in the health care industry. It breaks down information silos between health care providers, achieves greater health care outcomes for patients and creates efficiencies in state-funded health care programs such as Medicaid. https://hiea.nc.gov/

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April Umminger, Public Relations Specialist
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SOURCE Cary Medical Management