Boulder County Leading the Way in Health IT Expansion

Longmont United Hospital is the Newest Provider in Boulder County to Connect to the CORHIO HIE

Boulder County is setting the pace for health IT in Colorado with four of its five major hospitals and a specialty practice actively using health information exchange (HIE) to improve patient care and reduce health care costs. Most recently, Longmont United Hospital connected to CORHIO’s secure network joining Avista Adventist Hospital, Boulder Community Hospital and Boulder Community Foothills Hospital.

In the last decade, Longmont specifically has experienced rapid growth and proudly touts its title as one of the “top 100 places to live in the U.S.” The city’s burgeoning population stands at nearly 90,000 residents. As the area expands, Longmont United Hospital strives to adopt health IT solutions to advance patient care and quality initiatives.

John Peterson, vice president of information systems at Longmont United Hospital, explains that during his eleven-year tenure, the hospital has made significant investments to the quality and efficiency of care for the residents of its flourishing city, including digitizing medical records and transitioning to a completely paperless Emergency Room.

Longmont United Hospital’s most recent accomplishment, joining the HIE, will enable its care providers to have instant access to important health information about their patients, including hospital discharge notifications, lab test and pathology results, x-ray, MRI and other imaging reports, and physician transcription reports. The network is also scheduled to be ugraded to include patient medication lists, allergies and immunizations.

“By connecting to the HIE, eventually all of the information we need will be at our finger tips, which will allow our staff to have a more complete and immediate understanding of our patients,” said Peterson.

Mark Hinman, a family practice physician at Longmont United Hospital adds, “By exchanging patient health data with other providers in our area, I will have the information I need to improve the timeliness and safety of patient care while reducing the cost.”