Synergy Home Care Joins Louisiana's Health Information Exchange

BATON ROUGE, La., Feb. 28, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- The Louisiana Health Care Quality Forum announced that Synergy Home Care, operating home health agencies across Louisiana, has enrolled as a participant in the Louisiana Health Information Exchange (LaHIE).

"By enrolling with LaHIE, Synergy Home Care will soon be connected with the larger health care community throughout the state and introduce a new level of care, safety and savings to Louisiana patients," said Cindy Munn, Executive Director of the Quality Forum. "We are excited to provide Synergy Home Care access to a powerful, secure and comprehensive exchange solution in Louisiana, and we welcome them to LaHIE."

LaHIE is the mechanism that allows for the secure exchange of health information among authorized providers and organizations across Louisiana's health care system to help improve patient safety, quality of care and health outcomes. Benefits of LaHIE include timely access to patient records, improved patient safety, increased security of records, better coordination of care and patient management, reduced health care costs and improved public health reporting.

Robert Fusco, Chief Executive Officer of Synergy Home Care, added, "Our company made a significant commitment early on to implement an innovative technological platform for maintaining, sharing and integrating the Electronic Health Record (EHR) of our patients. This commitment positions Synergy Home Care among the first home health care providers to join the LaHIE and is important as we partner with Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) and other health care organizations. Connecting acute and post-acute care providers ultimately helps patients receive the most suitable care, at the right time with the right clinician."

In 2009, the Quality Forum was named as the State-Designated Entity to oversee the planning, development and implementation of LaHIE. The exchange launched in November 2011 with Lafayette General Medical Center and Opelousas General Health System as pilot facilities in the Acadiana region of the state. LaHIE went "live" in December 2011 and, currently, more than 130 hospitals, clinics, physician practices and health care companies across Louisiana are participating in LaHIE.  For more information and a list of participants, visit www.lhcqf.org.

About Synergy Home Care
With 17 offices across Louisiana, Synergy Home Care, a Senior Home Care company, has been treating seniors with quality home health care services for more than 15 years. Synergy Home Care in Louisiana and Senior Home Care in Florida have nearly 50 branch locations and 1,800 employees, combined. Working in conjunction with patients' physicians, the companies' clinicians treat more than 50,000 seniors each year in their homes and assisted/independent living facilities. Synergy Home Care's mission is to provide quality patient care in a compassionate and ethical manner while encouraging a lifestyle of independence. For more information, visit www.seniorhomecare.net.

About Louisiana Health Care Quality Forum
The Louisiana Health Care Quality Forum is a private, not-for-profit organization, dedicated to advancing evidence-based, collaborative initiatives to improve the health of Louisiana residents. Its focus areas include quality measurement and analytics, clinical quality improvement, the patient-centered medical home/care coordination model, Louisiana Physician Orders for Scope of Treatment (LaPOST), outreach/education and health information technology (IT). The Quality Forum is the State-Designated Entity to support health care providers and critical access/rural hospitals as they adopt and meaningfully use electronic health records and to lead the planning and implementation of the state's health information exchange. For more information, visit www.lhcqf.org.

SOURCE Senior Home Care