e-MDs is first EHR to connect to Kansas infectious disease registry

AUSTIN, Texas and TOPEKA, Kan., Dec. 18, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- e-MDs, a leading provider of electronic health records (EHRs) and practice management (PM) solutions and Kansas Health Information Network Inc. (KHIN), a health information exchange organization (HIO), today announced that e-MDs' electronic health records (EHR) technology is the first to exchange provider data directly with  the newly-created Kansas infectious disease registry.

This new capability assists the 31 Kansas healthcare organizations using e-MDs' EHR with meeting their Meaningful Use 2 (MU2) requirements. It also brings significant benefits to patients. "Sharing and having timely access to information about infectious diseases is critical to containing it," said Patrick Hall, EVP Business Development for e-MDs. "While automating the reporting process helps physicians meet MU2 requirements, the connection to KHIN is bigger than that. It's about improving the care and clinical outcomes for patients in Kansas by diagnosing infectious diseases sooner. We are proud to be the first EHR solution to connect to the registry."

The state of Kansas is known for operating one of the country's longest-running and most successful health information exchanges (HIEs). KHIN has filled the basic and critical need for care providers to electronically exchange and obtain health information such as what medications or procedures their patients have received in other facilities. This allows physician teams to provide safer care to their patients in a more efficient and effective manner.

"Connecting to a new public health registry is a significant accomplishment, both technically and from a population health perspective. Having the diagnosis available in real time provides  the ability to identify and monitor disease outbreaks much more quickly," said Laura McCrary Ed.D, Executive Director for Kansas Health Information Network, Inc. "The direct connection to e-MDs' EHR clinical data enables improved patient safety and care in Kansas as disease outbreaks are now monitored more effectively, efficiently and proactively."

KHIN works directly with EHR vendors to transport clinical data from Kansas health care providers directly to the Kansas public health databases, including the immunization registry, cancer registry, infectious disease registry, syndromic surveillance registry and electronic lab reporting for reportable diseases.

"e-MDs has done an amazing job. They have been flexible and willing to work through all the complexity that comes along with creating a new registry," said McCrary. "We are very pleased with our relationship and the cooperative and collaborative outcome."