EAST LANSING, Mich., July 18, 2013  -- Great Lakes Health Information Exchange (GLHIE) has launched an immunization gateway, the first in the State of Michigan to meet the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's requirements for real-time electronic submissions and acknowledgements as mandated by the Michigan Care Improvement Registry (MCIR).

GLHIE's system allows providers to submit and receive immunization information within their electronic medical record (EMR) system to help them meet Meaningful Use requirements in both Stage 2 and draft proposed recommendations for Stage 3.  This gateway also has the ability to query the State of Michigan for immunization histories when that function is added by MCIR in fall of 2013.

"The Great Lakes Health Information Exchange system provides a bi-directional interface between our Electronic Health Record and the State of Michigan's Community Immunization Record making our everyday office workflow easier.

"My staff previously made dual entry into both our chart and the MCIR Portal.  Today, the entry is single and seamless," said Dr. Christopher Beal of St. Johns Internal Medicine PC.

By documenting immunizations in real-time, GLHIE is supporting the vision of MCIR, as outlined in Public Act 91 of 2006, to reduce vaccine preventable disease and over-vaccination. The Michigan Care Improvement Registry also works community-wide to track immunizations administered during a public health emergency.

Great Lakes Health Information Exchange is employing the technology of the Optum Immunization Gateway to facilitate the secure exchange of immunization information from healthcare provider's offices, schools, county health departments and other public health facilities, local clinics or hospitals reporting through Michigan Health Information Network (MiHIN) to Michigan's statewide registry.

MiHIN is a Michigan nonprofit entity, functioning as a public and private collaboration between the State of Michigan, sub-state Health Information Exchanges and payers. Their role is to set policy and supporting legal structure to the exchange of health information statewide.

The routing of child and adult immunization records will help providers improve care coordination and support public health emergency preparedness initiatives directly from their EMR, improving their workflow process.

About Great Lakes Health Information Exchange

The Great Lakes Health Information Exchange (GLHIE) is a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the speed and quality of healthcare to the community by facilitating the authorized and secure electronic access and retrieval of critical clinical data to healthcare providers in the State of Michigan leading to safer and more effective patient-centered care. By leveraging the state's public and private community resources, the healthcare system is improved through collaborative innovation and fosters an environment of connectivity between the patient and the healthcare team.