Georgia Partnership for TeleHealth Joins GaHIN to Improve Care at School Clinics

ATLANTA, GA--(Jun 3, 2015) - Care providers at Georgia's school clinics will be able to remotely access student health information from pediatricians and other providers to deliver better onsite care now that Georgia Partnership For TeleHealth (GPT) has joined Georgia Health Information Network (GaHIN). GaHIN is the statewide health information exchange (HIE) for Georgia and GPT is a charitable nonprofit promoting the establishment of telemedicine programs in communities throughout Georgia.

Now that GPT's connection with GaHIN is live, participating school systems will be able to securely exchange information with more than 3,600 Georgia healthcare providers, including Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, the state's largest pediatric healthcare system. GaHIN also provides access to Georgia's immunization registry as well as connected providers in South Carolina.

GPT is one of the most robust telehealth organizations in the nation and has established telemedicine programs at rural Georgia school systems serving approximately 60 schools. Azalea Health, a provider of cloud-based healthcare solutions and services, recently donated its electronic health record (EHR) software, services and training to rural K-12 school clinics in Coffee County, Georgia, where the GaHIN pilot is taking place at 12 schools.

"Our Rural School-Based Telehealth Center Initiative offers a number of benefits to students and families," said Sherrie Williams, Executive Director of GPT. "Students receive quality care without having to miss class. Parents don't have to leave work and lose wages to take their child to see the doctor. If a specialist visit is needed, it doesn't require hours in the car to reach a large healthcare center; the child can be examined right from the school clinic."

At these institutions, school nurses use medical devices equipped with cameras to share data and images with healthcare providers, who view the information on a computer screen at their offices. Written parental consent is required prior to students participating in the program.

"The telehealth school initiative is an important factor in equalizing the technology disparity between rural and urban areas," said Denise Hines, Executive Director of GaHIN. "By incorporating the secure exchange of electronic health information, nurses and physicians will be able to access patient information at the time and place care is delivered, which is shown to improve the quality of care while reducing costs."

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About Georgia Health Information Network
Georgia Health Information Network (GaHIN) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to creating a healthier Georgia by facilitating the use and secure exchange of electronic health information so providers have the information they need at the point of care. The result is improved quality of care, better health outcomes and reductions in cost. GaHIN's two products, GeorgiaDirect (with Medicity) and Georgia ConnectedCare (with Truven Health Analytics) connect providers statewide and nationally and are free for credentialed, authorized Georgia users. www.gahin.org.

About Georgia Partnership for TeleHealth (GPT)
Georgia Partnership for TeleHealth is the leading agency in Georgia focusing on increasing access to healthcare through innovative use of technology including telemedicine, health information exchange and telehealth. The Georgia Telemedicine Program was built based on advances in the continually evolving telecommunications and computer industries, and on successes and lessons learned from other Telemedicine programs. The hallmark of Georgia Telemedicine is the Open Access Network, which is a web of statewide access points based on strategic partnerships with successful existing Telemedicine programs, and the creation of new Telemedicine locations, to maximize opportunities for timely specialty services. For more information, visit www.gatelehealth.org or call (866) 754-4325.

About Azalea Health
Azalea Health is a leading provider of cloud-based healthcare solutions and services. The complete Azalea solution provides Electronic Health Records (EHR), Practice Management (PM), Revenue Cycle Management (RCM) billing services, as well as Patient Health Records Portal, and a mobile mHealth application. With a focus on patient engagement, Azalea's integrated solution has the flexibility to accommodate multiple specialties of any size practice and can immediately improve workflow as well as revenue flow. The solution also provides tools and resources to help customers meet their Meaningful Use and ICD-10 requirements. For more information, visit www.azaleahealth.com or call (877) 777-7686.