Hospital 2nd on medical records system

Van Wert independent/submitted information

Van Wert County Hospital is the second hospital in the state to “go live” on the new statewide health information exchange, CliniSync.

The Ohio Health Information Partnership announced Tuesday that patient information such as lab reports and test results are electronically moving from the hospital to doctors this week.

The CliniSync exchange electronically delivers medical records to physicians and other healthcare providers who treat a patient, allowing information to move quickly and securely to assist in diagnosis and treatment.

“Van Wert County Hospital is excited to be a part of this initiative with other regional healthcare providers,” said Mike Holliday, vice president of financial and administrative services for the hospital. “The new information exchange will allow us to improve health care through better coordination of care by ensuring that patient information is in the right place at the right time.”

Holliday added that the electronic medical system would improve both the efficiency and effectiveness of health care, as well as provide up-to-date information to healthcare providers.

A 99-bed hospital established in 1905, Van Wert has a long history of serving the needs of patients and works closely with other facilities for more complex cases, which is why electronic exchange of information will help physicians and clinicians get the right information on a patient when they need it, Holliday says.

“They (providers) will now have real-time information — and all of the information — at their fingertips as they’re making diagnostic or treatment decisions for their patients,” Holliday explained.

He noted that the electronic medical records project began with discussions back in 2009 among regional hospital systems, adding that local hospital officials were hoping to have the system up and running about a month ago, but ran into some problems that needed fixing. “We are a little behind where we had hoped to be, but we wanted to make sure we got it right,” Holliday said.

One of the biggest challenges of an electronic medical records system, he said, was to maintain patient privacy while also allowing health care providers better access to medical records. It was a challenge that hospitals took very seriously, Holliday said, stressing that maintaining patient privacy was a top priority for hospital officials during the development process for the new medical records system.

The new system will begin by providing access to lab and radiology test information, but will eventually encompass all a patient’s medical information, including a patient’s medical history, including items such as emergency room visits and cardiopulmonary tests. Physicians and other healthcare providers will access the information through vendor CliniSync, which will provide interfaces for the various computer systems being used by healthcare providers via secure servers.

St. Rita’s Medical Center in Lima jump-started the process in Ohio last December when it went live on the statewide health information exchange after mutual agreement of the leadership of the West Central Ohio Health Information Exchange (WCOHIE), a regional consortium of hospitals and healthcare providers that want to exchange patient health information electronically. Health Partners of Western Ohio, the Orthopaedic Institute of Ohio, Dr. James Bowlus and OB/GYN Specialists of Lima were some of the first to receive results and reports, now reaching a total of 12 different practices and entities.

This summer, Lima Memorial Health System, Joint Township District Memorial Hospital in St. Marys, and Mercer County Community Hospital in Coldwater will connect to the CliniSync network. Hospitals will be sending discrete lab results, pathology and microbiology reports, radiology reports and additional clinical and textual documents, such as histories and physicals as well as discharge summaries.

Dr. Herbert Schumm, Regional Vice President of Medical Affairs at St. Vincent’s Medical Center and c hair of WCOHIE, played a major role in the use of HIT within the medical community.

“It is great to have additional members of WCOHIE come online,” Dr. Schumm says. “As more physician office systems interface, we are seeing our dream become a reality.”

Dan Paoletti, CEO of the Ohio Health Information Partnership, says the entire region will be the first to exchange information with one another, a courageous and progressive step for west central Ohio.

“I look at the West Central Ohio HIE as trailblazers who are transforming health care in our state,” Paoletti said. “Through the collaboration of these hospitals, physicians and other regional healthcare providers, doctors will receive accurate and timely information, allowing patients to receive care more quickly.”

Eventually, as many hospitals join CliniSync, a physician will be able to search for a patient’s records and bring disparate records to one place so the physician will have medications, test results and history to review before treatment, Paoletti says.

Lima Memorial will go live after Van Wert. Cheryl Homan, administrative director for the Lima Memorial Health System in Information Systems and Biomed, says she looks forward to the reality of exchanging health records both within Ohio as well as across bordering states.

“With many providers in the region implementing an EMR in their practices, the need for an infrastructure to support electronic exchange of patient information among all care providers regardless of location and/or hospital affiliation has become a reality,” Homan notes.

“CliniSync provides the infrastructure for this electronic exchange within Ohio as well as across state lines, giving the provider quick access to needed individual patient information in one location,” she added. “Lima Memorial is looking forward to being able to participate in this electronic exchange to improve patient care in the communities we serve.”

Joint Township Memorial Hospital, part of the Grand Lake Health System, will be connected at the same time as Mercer County this summer.

“The CliniSync health information exchange will be a great benefit to the delivery of healthcare services in the Grand Lake Health System’s region,” said Jeff Vossler, chief financial officer of the Grand Lake Health System in St. Marys. “This central source for patient information improves the coordination of care between physicians, hospitals and other providers. It is a vital step in our ongoing program of a comprehensive medical record for all our patients.”

Mercer County Joint Township Community Hospital plans to connect to the health information exchange later this summer.

“Mercer Health is anxiously awaiting to be connected to the CliniSync health information exchange,” says George C. Boyles, vice president of finance and chief financial officer. “Utilizing this patient record information database will allow our clinical staff, physicians and patients to interact very efficiently regarding the medical care of each patient being served by the hospital.”

A total of 55 hospitals in Ohio have committed to CliniSync through contractual agreements. In addition, 353 physicians, two national labs and various facilities that care for patients have contracted to join.

Paoletti says that in Ohio, there are healthcare providers who started sharing records electronically within the past decade and they have led the way using technology to improve care and outcomes.  However, these existing systems are closed networks within a health system or in specific regions. CliniSync is the first infrastructure that will allow information to flow throughout the state.

The CliniSync infrastructure — created by Medicity, a national vendor with experience in HIE in other states — is technologically secure among authorized healthcare users who sign agreements with the Ohio Health Information Partnership.

About the Ohio Health Information Partnership

The Ohio Health Information Partnership is a nonprofit, state-designated entity responsible for establishing regional extension centers to assist physicians and hospitals with information technology and for creating the infrastructure for a health information exchange in the state. Ohio has received $44,146,199 in federal funding including $14,872,199 for the health information exchange (CliniSync), $28.5 million for regional extension centers and $774,000 for critical access hospitals.  The State of Ohio contributed $8 million when The Partnership first formed. The Partnership includes the Ohio State Medical Association, Ohio Osteopathic Association, Ohio Hospital Association, BioOhio and the State of Ohio. The partnership is funded through the Office of the National Coordinator, U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, grant numbers 90RC0012 and 90HT0024. Visit the Ohio Health Information Partnership at www.clinisync.org.