Ohio and Michigan HIEs link up

Ohio and Michigan are hoping to show that health information exchanges (HIEs) know no boundaries.

Michigan Health Connect and Ohio’s CliniSync announced March 27 that the two HIEs now can securely exchange patient information through the Direct Project, an Office of the National Coordinator initiative that encourages industry collaboration to develop standards for safe and secure protected health information transmission.

Michigan patients who receive care in Ohio, or vice versa, can send medical records securely through Direct, using encrypted email to the doctor who is providing treatment, according to a joint press announcement. Through the partnership, faxing, telephone calls or mail are replaced with encrypted emails among authorized physicians and personnel.

“The primary care physician of a student attending college in Michigan or Ohio, for example, can securely and efficiently send pertinent information to the doctor who is out-of-state,” according to the announcement, explaining that health records can include patient discharge summaries from hospitals, radiology or imaging reports, medication lists, annual physicals, lab results, immunization or vaccination reports.