Category: CORHIO in the News

  • How HIEs Contribute to Clinical Analytics, Population Health

    Date: November 3rd, 2014Source: HealthIT AnalyticsTopics: HIE, Population Health
    With the tight focus on EHR interoperability and data sharing among partners along the healthcare continuum, both public and private health information exchanges (HIEs) are enjoying a moment in the limelight. Private HIEs are growing in popularity among former competitors in local communities, and many statewide organizations have achieved financial sustainability, and are now beginning to expand their services to include clinical analytics and population health management features. HIEs may now be a fact of life, but are they necessary for truly effective analytics? How should analytics-minded providers choose to invest their time, money and infrastructure when it comes to data exchange?
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  • IT Spending No Small Undertaking for Providers

    Date: October 2nd, 2014Source: FierceHealthITTopics: Health IT
    At a Health IT Policy Committee governance subgroup meeting in mid-August, Carl Dvorak, president of EHR vendor Epic said that at least one factor limiting health data exchange is that some health information exchanges nationwide force participants to pay full and exorbitant fees for participation, even in the case of providers using individual services such as access to public health and immunization registries. Morgan Honea, executive director for CORHIO--a nonprofit health information exchange that electronically connects providers throughout the state--who also testified at the meeting, took issue with what he saw as generalizations by Dvorak, calling them "unfair."
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  • Digital Medical Records Become Common, but Sharing Remains Challenging

    Date: September 30th, 2014Source: New York TimesTopics: HIE, EHRs
    As a practicing ear, nose and throat specialist in Ahoskie, N.C., Dr. Raghuvir B. Gelot says that little has frustrated him more than the digital record system he installed a few years ago. The problem: His system, made by one company, cannot share patient records with the local medical center, which uses a program made by another company
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  • Hospital EHR System Connected To State HIE To Improve Transitions Of Care

    Date: September 10th, 2014Source: Health IT OutcomesTopics: HIE, EHRs, Colorado Hospitals & Health Systems, Transitions of Care
    Recently, Estes Park Medical Center (EPMC) announced it has successfully connected its electronic health record (EHR) system to the health information exchange network of the CORHIO, the Colorado Regional Health Information Organization. Estes Park Medical Center is the first independent critical access hospital to connect to the Colorado HIE.
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  • Replacing An Ambulance With A Station Wagon

    Date: September 5th, 2014Source: NPR - ShotsTopics: Care Coordination, Emergency Services
    When a fire department gets a call for medical help, most of them scramble both an ambulance and a fully staffed fire truck. But that's way more than most people need, according to Rick Lewis, chief of emergency medical services at South Metro Fire Rescue Authority in the Denver suburbs. "It's not the prairie and the Old West anymore, where you have to be missing a limb to go to the hospital," Lewis says, "Now it's a sore throat or one day of cold or flu season sometimes, and that can be frustrating for people, I know it is."
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  • HIE, Advanced EMR System Make Coordinated Care A Snap

    Date: August 27th, 2014Source: Health IT OutcomesTopics: HIE, Care Coordination, Colorado Hospitals & Health Systems, Patient Care
    Boulder Medical Center doctors are now receiving laboratory results from hospitals and labs around the state without having to wait for faxes or other paper-based methods of communication. This is reducing patient wait times, helping doctors make faster and more accurate clinical decisions, and saving staff time previously spent tracking down patients' medical records.
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  • Being Prepared For a Car Accident Can Save Money, Stress

    Date: August 18th, 2014Source: Denver PostTopics: HIE, Emergency Services
    By definition, the idea of being prepared for an accident is an oxymoron. But you can take some steps that will help make it easier to deal with the aftermath. Anyone who spends much time in a car is at risk for being in a vehicle accident, especially if you're between ages 15 and 24 or over age 65. Emergency department staff nationally treated more than 2.3 million drivers and passengers injured in motor vehicle accidents in 2009.
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  • Boulder Medical Center Connects to Statewide HIE

    Date: August 8th, 2014Source: Healthcare InformaticsTopics: CORHIO Network
    More than 70 providers at the Colorado-based Boulder Medical Center, a multi-specialty group that also operates an urgent care clinic, are now using health information exchange (HIE), in addition to an advanced electronic medical record (EMR) system, to coordinate care for more than 200,000 annual patient visits. Through the CORHIO secure electronic network, Boulder Medical Center doctors are now receiving laboratory results from hospitals and labs around the state without having to wait for faxes or other paper-based methods of communication.
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  • Healthier Colorado Spotlight: True North Health Navigation

    Date: August 1st, 2014Source: Colorado Health Institute, Reaching Our PeakTopics: HIE, PatientCare 360, Care Coordination, Emergency Services
    On a hot morning in the middle of June, Eric Bleeker and Katie Romero jumped into a red and white Ford SUV stocked with medical gear and rushed to a 911 patient who had been bitten by a dog. On the way to the scene, Romero, a nurse practitioner for 15 years, pulled up the patient's medical records on an iPad.
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  • Think Globally, Practice Locally: How Population Health Will Improve Health, Reduce Costs

    Date: July 14th, 2014Source: Colorado Medicine, a publication of the Colorado Medical SocietyTopics: Population Health
    As physicians, we spend much time with our patients treating diabetes, cardiovascular disease and mental health. But to really move the needle on such conditions, we need to invest at least as much time – if not more time – on the population-based practice of medicine, rather than merely treating individuals. That’s why the concept of “population health” has gained support from the medical community in recent years.
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  • Can Gathering and Managing Patient Information Be Less Challenging?

    Date: July 2nd, 2014Source: CAFP News, an official publication of the Colorado Academy of Family PhysiciansTopics: HIE, EHRs, Care Coordination
    One of the biggest complaints from physicians, as well as nurses and other practice staff, is how difficult and time-consuming it can be to collect complete clinical histories for new patients, or manage the needs of complex and chronic disease patients who are seen by multiple physicians. Often there are many phone calls back and forth between offices and stacks of paper faxes for which the relevant patient information is hard to find. Even worse, the information you need today may not arrive until weeks after a referral appointment or hospital discharge. The process of gathering and managing patient records is frustrating, and most health care professionals have just learned to accept it. Although you and your practice staff have developed into expert information gatherers, there is a way to cut back on this tedious and inefficient work.
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  • Health Information Exchange is a Key to Better Transitions, Better Outcomes and Cost Savings

    Date: July 1st, 2014Source: LeadingAge MagazineTopics: HIE, Value-Based Care, Long-Term Care, Transitions of Care
    In today’s health care environment, the smooth transition of patients between settings has become critical to achieving the triple aim of improved outcomes at lower cost and with better patient experiences. Even so, long-term and post-acute care (LTPAC) providers often lack complete medical information about the people they admit. Most providers still rely on fax and phone communication, rather than using an electronic health information exchange (HIE), which moves clinical information among providers, using national standards, while maintaining the integrity of the data.
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  • How Health Information Exchange Fits Into Population Health

    Date: June 5th, 2014Source: EHR IntelligenceTopics: HIE, Population Health
    The continuum of care is extensive landscape and many patients are beginning to encounter its many different settings as the healthcare industry continues to evolve, both on its own and by mandate. Although the patient is being moved to the center as part of healthcare reform, it is the health of an entire patient population that is gaining more and more attention.
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  • Three SCL Health System Hospitals Join CORHIO

    Date: May 20th, 2014Source: Modern Healthcare (free registration may be required to view)Topics: CORHIO Network, Colorado Hospitals & Health Systems
    Three Denver-area hospitals in the SCL Health System have connected their electronic health-record systems to the Colorado Regional Health Information Organization to help them coordinate the care of patients with other healthcare organizations in the Denver and Boulder (Colo.) area. The three are 190-bed Exempla Good Samaritan Medical Center in Lafayette, 380-bed Exempla Lutheran Medical Center in Wheat Ridge and 369-bed Exempla St. Joseph Hospital in Denver.
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  • EHR Vendors Lag in Stage 2 Upgrades

    Date: May 2nd, 2014Source: Healthcare IT NewsTopics: EHRs, Meaningful Use, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
    Attesting to Stage 2 meaningful use in 2014 may be difficult to come by for small and mid-sized provider groups, with one big reason being the electronic health record vendors' dilatory pace in actually upgrading their systems. "We've seen a ton of progress with EHR adoption since 2010," said Erin Dormaier, program manager for CFMC. "But this year the challenge is the 2014 upgrade."
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  • Military Health System Enters Colorado’s Health Information Exchange

    Date: May 2nd, 2014Source: The MERCURY, an authorized publication for members of the U.S. Army Medical DepartmentTopics: Military Health, CORHIO Network
    The recently established Defense Health Agency’s Colorado Springs Military Health System has entered the state’s health information exchange (HIE) which is a formal way to improve medical information flow between military and civilian providers.
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  • Mobile Medical Unit Brings the ER to the Patient

    Date: March 28th, 2014Source: Denver Business JournalTopics: CORHIO Network, Emergency Services
    As health-care leaders look for ways to reduce costs, True North Health Navigation officials believe they’ve found a way to eliminate one of the most hated health expenses — the price tag for carting people to a hospital emergency room in an ambulance, often for non-emergency situations.
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  • Using Technology to Reinvent the House Call

    Date: March 27th, 2014Source: Integrated Healthcare Delivery & EMS WorldTopics: HIE, Health IT, Emergency Services
    In the old days when physicians made house calls, they often had the advantage of knowing their patients. They were familiar with their past medical history, medications and test results because they had been their sole medical provider. Although this model is a good one, it’s been impractical in the modern world—until now. Last year, the Colorado Regional Health Information Organization (CORHIO) and True North Health Navigation teamed up to provide Colorado’s first-ever mobile emergency medical unit with access to patient medical information.
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  • Military Providers Join Colorado Health Information Exchange

    Date: March 27th, 2014Source: Modern Healthcare (free registration may be required to view)Topics: Military Health, CORHIO Network
    Healthcare providers in the Defense Department's Military Health System in Colorado are joining that state's civilian-sponsored health information exchange, the Colorado Regional Health Information Organization, the Defense Health Agency has announced. The new health information exchange participants are Evans Army Community Hospital, Fort Carson, and the medical clinics at the U.S. Air Force Academy, Peterson Air Force Base and Schriever Air Force Base, all in Colorado Springs.
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  • CORHIO Aims to Reduce ER Visits Through HIE

    Date: March 14th, 2014Source: Healthcare InformaticsTopics: HIE, Emergency Services
    The Colorado Regional Health Information Organization (CORHIO) has opened its health information exchange (HIE) to True North Health Navigation—a mobile emergency medical unit—to allow access to vital patient information through the HIE. While en route to non-life-threatening 911 calls, True North Health Navigation practitioners have access to complete patient medical histories, including recent treatments and medications. This allows practitioners to diagnose and treat patients with greater accuracy and safety while eliminating the cost of unnecessary trips to the emergency room, according to officials.
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  • Moving Forward on Image-Sharing in Colorado—CORHIO’s New Thrust

    Date: March 3rd, 2014Source: Healthcare InformaticsTopics: CORHIO Network, Image Sharing
    The Colorado Regional Health Information Organization (CORHIO) has been moving forward on numerous fronts. Already, more than 1,900 office-based providers, 47 hospitals, and 126 long-term and post-acute care facilities are now connected to each other via the Denver-based health information exchange (HIE). What’s more, CORHIO was one of 16 HIEs in the Midwest and Rocky Mountain States announcing in February that they were coming together as the Mid-States Consortium of Health Information Organizations
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  • Use the ARM: Mobile medicine helps low-acuity patients

    Date: February 21st, 2014Source: Journal of Emergency Medical ServicesTopics: HIE, Care Coordination, Emergency Services
    The Denver metro area isn’t Gotham City. It doesn’t have Batman or Robin or the Riddler, but it does have the Batmobile. A gadget-laden EMS Batmobile to be exact. And it would make even Batman envious.
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  • 16 HIOs to Collaborate on More Robust Exchange

    Date: February 20th, 2014Source: FierceHealthITTopics: HIE, Interoperability
    Sixteen health information organizations (HIOs) in Great Plains and Rocky Mountain states are teaming up to address the toughest issues limiting data sharing from a highly mobile populace.Their goal is to ensure that patients' information follows them, no matter where they go, according to an announcement. Though some of the organizations share data through DIRECT technology and query-based exchange, differing state laws, patient consent policies and approaches to sharing protected health information still present barriers to letting patient records follow them as they travel.
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  • Kaiser Permanente Inks Big HIE Deal

    Date: February 19th, 2014Source: Healthcare IT NewsTopics: CORHIO Network, Health Plans
    Colorado's largest nonprofit health plan has solidified a deal with the state's regional health information exchange, agreeing to participate in the network going forward. Kaiser Permanente Colorado, which currently serves some 545,000 members, announced Tuesday it would be the first health plan in the state to join the Colorado Regional Health Information Organization, a deal which officials say will provide Kaiser physicians with holistic data on their members when care is provided outside of the health plan's network
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  • Sixteen HIOs to Form Consortium for Better HIE Creation

    Date: February 19th, 2014Source: EHR IntelligenceTopics: HIE, Interoperability
    Sixteen health information organizations (HIOs) in the Midwest and Rocky Mountain states have joined to create the Mid-States Consortium of Health Information Organizations. The group seeks to improve patient care through the use of health information exchanges (HIEs), push for more forms of HIEs including query-based HIE, and support HIE and technology use in rural areas.
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