A regional electronic health information exchange is set to go live in the next few weeks, but without one of the area's key providers - Ingham Regional Medical Center.
The Capital Area Regional Health Information Organization, or RHIO, is a system that allows health care providers in Ingham, Clinton and Eaton counties to exchange medical records.
It is designed to make it easier for health care providers such as Sparrow Health System and Michigan State University to share patient data and better coordinate treatments and procedures.
"What this means is if you went into a physician's office, then they would see everything that would happen to you throughout the community," said Valerie Glesnes-Anderson, interim director of the RHIO. "If you had lab work at Sparrow and X-rays at MSU, all that would be displayed on one computer screen."
Ingham Regional had been a key member and financial backer of the nonprofit organization, which has been in the works for more than five years.
But the Lansing hospital decided during the summer to join a different health information network with its parent company, Flint-based McLaren Health Care Corp. - Michigan Health Connect.
Michigan Health Connect is a Grand Rapids-based organization that includes several large health care providers spanning the Lower Peninsula.
"A lot of the larger systems decided to go that route so they wouldn't have to participate in different RHIOs and repeat the investment over and over again," said Robert Wright, president and CEO of Ingham Regional Medical Center.
He has been a board member of the Capital Area RHIO.
Thomas Bres, vice chairman of the RHIO board and vice president and chief information officer at Sparrow, called Ingham Regional's decision "unfortunate and regrettable."
However, RHIO Chairman Dr. Brian McCardel said the hospital's move was "by no means a fatal problem."
Michigan State University President Lou Anna Simon, treasurer for the organization, said health care providers eventually will be able to share information across different networks.
But she criticized Ingham Regional.
"It's not about data, we'll solve the data problem down the road," she said. "It is about a commitment to community.
"It's unfortunate that when health systems make decisions, it tends to be about a system position, not a community position, which is understandable because they're operating at a corporate level."
The Capital Area RHIO will have an annual budget of about $2 million funded by participating health care providers and other local organizations.
Physicians will pay subscription fees ranging from $85 to $120 a month, depend on the services they receive. Federal stimulus dollars are available to physicians for certain electronic medical record sharing expenses.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Melissa Domsic
Quelle/Source: Lansing State Journal, 07.10.2010
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