{"id":26431,"date":"2012-07-11T06:18:25","date_gmt":"2012-07-11T11:18:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/?p=26431"},"modified":"2012-07-12T07:34:47","modified_gmt":"2012-07-12T12:34:47","slug":"vwch-2nd-on-ohio-electronic-medical-records-system","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2012\/07\/11\/vwch-2nd-on-ohio-electronic-medical-records-system\/","title":{"rendered":"Hospital 2nd on medical records system"},"content":{"rendered":"

Van Wert independent\/<\/strong>submitted information<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Brett Taylor, information systems director, working on the HIE server at Van Wert county Hospital. (VWCH photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Van Wert County Hospital is the second hospital in the state to \u201cgo live\u201d on the new statewide health information exchange, CliniSync.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

The CliniSync exchange electronically delivers\u00a0medical records\u00a0to physicians and other healthcare providers who treat a patient, allowing information to move quickly and securely to assist in diagnosis and treatment.<\/p>\n

\u201cVan Wert County Hospital is excited to be a part of this initiative with other regional healthcare providers,\u201d said Mike Holliday, vice president of financial and administrative services for the hospital.\u00a0\u201cThe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey (providers) will now have real-time information — and all of the information — at their fingertips as they\u2019re making diagnostic or treatment decisions for their patients,\u201d Holliday explained.<\/p>\n

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. \u201cWe are a little behind where we had hoped to be, but we wanted to make sure we got it right,\u201d Holliday said.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

The new system will begin by providing access to lab and radiology test information, but will eventually encompass all a patient\u2019s medical information, including a patient\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Network support specialists Kathy Spaulding (left) and Angela Ewing review HIE data transfers. (VWCH photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

St. Rita\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Dr. Herbert Schumm, Regional Vice President of Medical Affairs at St. Vincent\u2019s Medical Center and c hair of WCOHIE, played a major role in the use of HIT within the medical community.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is great to have additional members of WCOHIE come online,\u201d Dr. Schumm says. \u201cAs more physician office systems interface, we are seeing our dream become a reality.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cI look at the West Central Ohio HIE as trailblazers who are transforming health care in our state,\u201d Paoletti said. \u201cThrough 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eventually, as many hospitals join CliniSync, a physician will be able to search for a patient\u2019s records and bring disparate records to one place so the physician will have medications, test results and history to review before treatment, Paoletti says.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Linda Royer, financial applications coordinator, stands in front of a portion of the HIE network infrastructure. (VWCH photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWith 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,\u201d Homan notes.<\/p>\n

\u201cCliniSync 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,\u201d she added. \u201cLima Memorial is looking forward to being able to participate in this electronic exchange to improve patient care in the communities we serve.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

\u201cThe CliniSync health information exchange will be a great benefit to the delivery of healthcare services in the Grand Lake Health System\u2019s region,\u201d said Jeff Vossler, chief financial officer of the Grand Lake Health System in St. Marys. \u201cThis 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mercer County Joint Township Community Hospital plans to connect to the health information exchange later this summer.<\/p>\n

\u201cMercer Health is anxiously awaiting to be connected to the CliniSync health information exchange,\u201d says George C. Boyles, vice president of finance and chief financial officer. \u201cUtilizing 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

About the Ohio Health Information Partnership<\/strong><\/p>\n

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<\/a>), $28.5 million for regional extension centers and $774,000 for critical access hospitals.\u00a0 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<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Van Wert independent\/submitted information Van Wert County Hospital is the second hospital in the state to \u201cgo live\u201d 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26431","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-28 00:29:27","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26431","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26431"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26431\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}