First in the Nation: Clinicians at the VA Maine Healthcare System Access the HIE
HealthInfoNet has successfully become the first HIE in the nation to provide "viewing access" to Veterans Affairs (VA) clinicians. With the support of federal and state grant funding HIN staff continue to work closely with VA Maine leadership to connect the VA health record systems to Maine's HIE.
With view access, authorized VA clinicians are able to obtain important medical information from non-VA facilities to support clinical decision making and care coordination. All of Maine's VA facilities' including eight Community Based Outreach Clinics, three outreach centers, and the Togus Medical Center will be given access to the HIE Clinical Portal this year.
In addition to view access, HIN has successfully enabled the national bi-directional connection with VA's electronic health record system known as "VLER". In the next year, HIN will work with local and national VA leadership to establish bi-directional data sharing workflows. Unlike Maine's non-VA medical information, Veterans must "opt-in" to share their VA records information with HIN's HIE. Over the next few months, veterans will be educated about their choice to opt-in and share their VA data with HIN's HIE.
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Usage of HIE Sets New Record Highs
Over the past two months, the usage of the HIE has achieved new record highs for monthly volume since the exchange became operational in 2009.
These record usage volumes include:
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Number of Patients Accessed (June 2015)
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34,156
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Number of Users Accessing Patients
(July 2015)
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1,813
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Real Time Notifications (July 2015)
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25,353
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Public Health Messages (July 2015)
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185,270
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Real Time Notifications are the events of care where email messages are sent to providers and care managers when a patient is admitted or discharged from a hospital, emergency department, a skilled nursing facility (SNF) unit or when specific types of diagnostic study results are received by the HIE. Care managers and providers identify those patients and events in advance.
Public Health Messages are real time laboratory results indicating positive findings for diseases that are mandated by State law for reporting to the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention and Syndromic Surveillance data generated out of hospital emergency and outpatient departments.
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Real-Time Analytics Expands
Our work continues to bring our Analytics Tools to more HIE customers. Our beta sites St. Josephs Hospital, Franklin Memorial Hospital and Beacon Health LLC ACO, are taking advantage of new enhancements including a new log-in view with drop-down menus for the population-level or individual patient-level views, refined predictive analytics, and specific data quality tools.
The algorithms that serve as the basis of these risk predictions has now been through peer review three times and clinical review and comparison with such tools as BOOST. The capability of the tools to identify patients at risk has been validated by the clinical beta test sites. St. Josephs Hospital has made it organizational policy to review 30-day readmission risk on a daily basis prior to all discharges.
We are also excited to announce the addition of new disease modules that will be available this fall. These are in addition to the current disease modules, population views and readmissions/return management views.
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Diseases
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Population Views
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Readmissions/ Return Management
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AMI
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Cost
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30-day readmission
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CHF*
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ED Visit
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30-day return to ED
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Diabetes
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Admission
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Hypertension*
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Stroke
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Mortality
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*New in Fall 2015
Learn more about our analytics product.
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HIE User of the Month
Each month, HealthInfoNet recognizes one of its users, highlighting the ways in which they use the HIE to support improvements in patient care at their organization.
Julie Racine, PMHNP-BC, Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner, uses HIN on a daily basis in her private practice in Sherman, Maine to improve care coordination between her and other providers. She finds value in the ease of accessing tests that the patient has already had and the ability to view their complete medical history. Overall, access to HIN has resulted in less time waiting for records and improved patient outcomes. Let us know how HIN has helped you improve patient care!
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HealthInfoNet is an independent, nonprofit organization using information technology to improve patient care quality and safety. The organization manages Maine's statewide health information exchange and offers services to encourage health information technology adoption and support new and emerging models of care and care management. The organization maintains administrative offices in Portland, Maine.
207-541-9250 or 866-592-4352
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