HIE Chronicles Part VII: Data flow gets the green light
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The East Side Clinical Laboratory, a Cranston, R.I.-based organization, has kickstarted the flow of patient information into currentcare, the statewide health information exchange (HIE) operated by the Rhode Island Quality Institute (RIQI).
East Side Clinical Laboratory annually assists an average of 240,000 unique patients, totaling 900,000 annual patient encounters. As a result of East Side Clinical Laboratory’s participation, enrolled patients' diagnostic test results are being sent directly into currentcare.
As patients’ results are completed, East Side Clinical Laboratory sends the patient data to a gateway server on East Side’s network, which receives a copy of the clinical data to determine if the patient’s demographics (including name, address and date of birth) match information from patients enrolled in currentcare, said Jim Feeney, vice president IT of East Side Clinical Laboratory.
“If the patient data matches information from an enrolled currentcare member, that information is sent to currentcare,”
he said.
Looking down the IT line, Feeney predicted that HIE participation will help close gaps in patients’ medical records. “East Side services many long-term nursing facilities in the state," he said. "If a patient is in a nursing facility and gets an infection or a critical condition, they could be transferred to a hospital setting, treated there and sent back to their long-term nursing provider. There can be a disconnect during those transfers on that patient’s medical record.
“Once other organizations begin putting clinical data into currentcare, a provider could look at patients across their medical history to see how they are responding in both the short and long term. It’ll be a nice look and view of the entire medical record,” said Feeney.
In addition to East Side Clinical Laboratory, Lifespan, Care New England, South County Hospital, Blackstone Valley Community Health Center, Quest Diagnostics and Surescripts have signed agreements with RIQI to submit consented patient information to currentcare in the very near future, RIQI stated. Projects to implement these additional data flows are under way now, and all are expected to be operational before the end of July.
As data from East Side Clinical Laboratory and other sites accumulates in currentcare, plans are being implemented to enable providers to have access to the data, according to RIQI. As of April 19, RIQI had enrolled nearly 140,000 Rhode Islanders in currentcare. That's the same day that data began flowing into the exchange.