Minneapolis, Minn. – (May 19, 2008) – MEDNETWorld.com has partnered with the Community Health Information Collaborative (CHIC), a Duluth-based nonprofit, to receive a federal grant to help develop and to test a nationwide health information network that will facilitate the secure sharing of electronic medical records to improve patient care.
The Nationwide Health Information Network (NHIN), which is being developed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, will enable health information to follow the consumer, making it available for clinical decision makers across the board, lowering healthcare costs, reducing medical errors and, ultimately, improving patient care.
Under the federal grant, CHIC’s record locator system will be linked to the Nationwide Health Information Network to help test the implementation of the network. CHIC is working on the record locator system with long-time partner, MEDNET, a Minneapolis-based firm that has created a secure system that allows healthcare providers and payers to readily access health care and insurance information.
“We want to make it easier for people every time they visit the doctor, a hospital or clinic. Most importantly, we are pleased to provide the necessary software to enable the critical security measures to protect patient privacy,” said MEDNET CEO John Fraser. “Patients can rest assured that our security technology goes far beyond ‘user name and password’ to protect their privacy while improving medical response time and overall care.”
“What’s exciting about this is that a little nonprofit in Duluth can help shape the future of medical record use across the country. We’re looking forward to helping develop a network that is secure and effective and that improves the quality of care patients receive,” said Cheryl Stephens, executive director of CHIC, a collaborative of more than 170 hospitals, clinics and other care facilities in northeastern Minnesota.
“It’s all about consumer empowerment,” Stephens said of the network. “Doctors will have a more complete picture of your health, which will improve the quality of care. Imagine being in an emergency room, where time is critical. You won’t have to remember every prescription or when you had your last tetanus shot.”
CHIC was among six health-related organizations receiving the cooperative agreement award for trial implementation testing of the network. CHIC and MEDNET are working with three partner hospitals – St. Luke’s in Duluth, Virginia Regional Medical Center and Riverwood Hospital in Aitkin – on a medical record locator system, which will allow medical personnel to use a “Google-type” search of a patient’s name to find out which medical facilities within the system have records on the patient, saving critical time because staff will know exactly which facilities to call for information.
CHIC also helped establish the Minnesota Immunization Information Connection, which maintains a record of immunizations, regardless of where they were administered. With MEDNET’s assistance, the immunization registry also will be used to help test implementation of the nationwide network.
Stephens said the long-term goal of CHIC is to put information technology to use to achieve better health care – and save money, in the process. “We’ve been picking away at this since 1997, and we haven’t given up,” Stephens said. “We know there are policy issues that affect implementation and effectiveness, and we are looking forward to working with NHIN to move forward.”
“It’s exciting to be in on the ground floor of designing and implementing the national healthcare information architecture – which will literally save lives,” Fraser said.
The other five cooperative agreement recipients are Kaiser Permanente, an integrated health delivery system; the Cleveland Clinic; HealthLINC (Bloomington, Ind., Hospital); HealthBridge, a Cincinnati-based health information exchange, and HealthLink RHIO at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio.
About MEDNET
MEDNET is based in a Minneapolis, Minn. MEDNET created a national system allowing providers, payers, emergency rooms, public health, and other health care participants, access to the important health care and insurance information on patients, anytime and anywhere while fully protecting patient privacy.
About CHIC
CHIC leverages information technology to help member organizations save precious healthcare dollars, make healthcare providers more efficient and to provide the foundation for future innovation. CHIC’s nearly 200 members include hospitals, clinics, long-term care facilities, tribal health organizations, higher education institutions and public health departments in 18 counties in northeast and north central Minnesota: Aitkin, Beltrami, Carlton, Cass, Chisago, Cook, Crow Wing, Isanti, Itasca, Kanabec, Koochiching, Lake, Mille Lacs, Morrison, Pine, St. Louis, Todd and Wadena. The area covers nearly 30,000 square miles and is home to 650,000 residents.
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For more information, contact:
CHIC
Cheryl Stephens, CHIC executive director
218-625-5515 or cstephens@medinfosystems.org.
MEDNET
Elizabeth Costello, Costello Communications, LLC
612-940-7693 or elizabethcostello@comcast.net
