Donor Alliance Utilizing CORHIO Health Information Exchange in Donor Eligibility Process

Hospital records and medical histories are an important part of completing the donor eligibility process, so Donor Alliance now has access to the CORHIO HIE to search for the information and potentially save time.

Every day in the United States, 22 people die while waiting for a life-saving transplant. In Colorado, more than 2,500 people are currently waiting for a lifesaving organ transplant. And nearly 20 percent of current transplant candidates in Colorado have been on the waiting list for five years or more. Needless to say, there is no time to waste in coordinating organ and tissue donations, which is where Donor Alliance comes in. Donor Alliance is the federally designated, non-profit that facilitates organ and tissue donation in Colorado and most of Wyoming. Donor Alliance manages recovery programs in more than 100 hospitals.

Donor Alliance decided to connect with the CORHIO health information exchange to improve their process of accessing hospital records for each patient referred to them for organ and tissue donation. In addition to accessing records via CORHIO’s PatientCare 360 web portal, Donor Alliance Quality Assurance Coordinators utilize phone conversations, access hospital portals, and request the delivery of discs with the patient information. “We believe that using CORHIO will reduce the time involved in the medical record request process  for Donor Alliance and their hospital partners (for the request and filling the request),” says Carol Zakavec, Director of Quality Systems at Donor Alliance.

Improving the Process

Evaluating donor eligibility requires careful review of medical records. Patient information such as reason for hospital admission, ED reports, progress notes, medications, lab values and general history can all help in the determination of donor eligibility.

The Quality Assurance team at Donor Alliance does a final review of all relevant medical information in the hospital medical record, which they now query on PatientCare 360 to save time. “We use CORHIO to access these records electronically for final donor eligibility review, which is key in helping to prevent disease transmission and enhancing the integrity of the lifesaving gift of organ and tissue donation. CORHIO gives us more real-time access to the medical information and increases the effectiveness and efficiency of our review. It also helps our hospital partners to reduce their workload.”

Paving the Way

Because Donor Alliance is a non-covered entity under HIPAA, CORHIO had to re-evaluate usage policies and tailor project implementation and training to this unique user type. We are pleased to expand usage of the health information exchange as appropriate to improve the health of Coloradans in new and unique ways, such as the vital services Donor Alliance provides.