Craig Hospital’s Patients Now Benefitting From HIE

One of the world’s leading specialty rehabilitation hospitals is now connected to the CORHIO Health Information Exchange

Craig Hospital is now participating in CORHIO’s secure health information exchange (HIE) network. Denver-based Craig Hospital is world-renowned as a premier center for specialty rehabilitation for people with spinal cord and traumatic brain injuries. Through the HIE connection, patients who are being transferred from another participating Colorado acute-care hospital to Craig Hospital will have smoother transitions because the details of their electronic medical records will immediately follow them as they transition facilities.

Health Information Exchange to Enhance Care Transitions

Often an individual with a brain or spinal cord injury has been through a traumatic accident and will be first taken to an emergency room or an acute-care hospital. At the hospital, the person is stabilized and may be there for many days while undergoing various tests, surgeries, and therapies. After the person is stabilized, their recovery and rehabilitation may progress more quickly at a specialty care facility like Craig Hospital, so he or she is transferred. The CORHIO HIE helps make sure that the clinical information recorded in the person’s electronic health record is securely and more completely transferred to Craig Hospital, so the new care team can more quickly develop a comprehensive treatment plan.

“Craig is pleased to be a part of the Colorado Regional Health Information Organization’s HIE network,” says Thomas E. Balazy, MD, Medical Director at Craig Hospital. “When a patient comes to Craig Hospital for medical and rehabilitation care of spinal cord and/or acquired brain injury, frequently from an acute-care center in Colorado, we will be able to quickly and accurately retrieve records from the referring physician and hospital. Labs and imaging reports will be instantly available, allowing us to devise the best treatment plan in a timely manner, without the delay of waiting for records or test results. The patient can be confident that all providers are looking at the same information housed within a secure environment.”

"We are honored to have Craig Hospital join the CORHIO health information exchange,” says Larry Wolk, MD, CEO at CORHIO. “Craig Hospital has always been an innovator using cutting-edge technology to help patients with brain and spinal cord injuries recover and be as independent as possible. We are pleased to be providing them with technology that helps make their world-class specialty care even more exceptional.”