The Arkansas Office of Health Information Technology (OHIT)today announced that OptumInsight’s health information exchange (HIE) technology has been selected to build the infrastructure for theState Health Alliance for Records Exchange (SHARE), Arkansas’s statewide health informationexchange.
Ray Scott, who was appointed by Governor Mike Beebe to serve as the state coordinator for health information technology and directs the activities of the OHIT said; “The selection of OptumInsight and their Axolotl HIE solution represents a major milestone in Arkansas’s efforts to expand the use of electronic health information that will benefit patients, care providers and payers. OptumInsight’sextensive experience in enabling the exchange of medical information about patients, who are treated by multiple unaffiliated health care providers, means better coordinated care and ultimately better health for Arkansans.”
OHIT is thestate-designated entity responsiblefor establishing the State Health Alliance for Records Exchange and for coordinating health information technology throughout the state: just look on their the website! Through the use of federal and state funding, OHIT and SHARE’s mission is to improve the quality of healthfor Arkansans by making the delivery of healthcare services more efficient and affordable, while improving patient safety. The state received $7.9 million in funding as part of the State Health Information Cooperative Agreement Program made available through the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC).
Using OptumInsight’s Axolotl HIEsolution, SHARE will create a secure infrastructure to connectdisparate health information systems to facilitate the exchange of information with existingcommunity and private HIEs as well as ambulatory electronic health record systems (EHR’s) across the state. Participating physicians, authorized health services professionals, and hospital facilities will have the ability to exchange patients’ clinical information securely and access up-to-date and historical medical information at the point of care. This information may include the patient’s relevant clinical care summaries of diagnoses, treatments, lab test results, allergies, radiology images and medications from allcare providers connected to SHARE.
SHAREwill be implemented in phases. Phase 1 will provide secure messaging, which will facilitate and expand the secure, electronic movement and use of health information between unaffiliated health care providers. In Phase II, SHARE will evolve intoa more robust healthinformation exchange, givingall participating health care providers the ability to sharepatientinformationamonghospitals,physicians and public healthentities connected to the exchange.The benefits will include accurate and timelypatient health care informationavailableto care providers at the point of care, reduction of duplicatetests and medical errorsto ultimately deliver safer, more affordable healthcare. Additional benefitsto the patients will include electronic access to their own healthinformation to promote more patient involvement in their care.
Through collaboration with the Arkansas Foundation for Medical Care andits division, HITArkansas, which serves astheArkansas Regional Extension Center (REC), OHIT will provide strategies for assisting health care providers to quickly reach stage 1 meaningful use, as well as developing the infrastructure needed by labs, e-lab orders and structured lab results.Recognizing that physician adoption is the key to any successful HIE, OptumInsight partnered with the Arkansas Foundation for Medical CareandOleen Pinnacle Healthcare Consulting, a national HIT healthcare consulting firm located in Little Rock, Ark. Oleen Pinnacle brings more than 20 years of HIT experience in hospital and ambulatory health information technology and most recent success with state and regional HIE deployments.
“The selection of OptumInsight to build the infrastructure for Arkansas’s health information exchange is a tremendous step in improving health care through health information technology,” said Ray Hanley, president and CEO of the Arkansas Foundation for Medical Care, the parent company of HITArkansas, the state’s Regional Extension Center. “OHIT has been a great partner in our efforts to aid health care providers in the transition to electronic health records, and we look forward to the next steps in that process.”
“OptumInsight is excited to work with the Arkansas Office of Health Information Technology to deploy a complete HIE infrastructure and solution that will make healthcare more efficient and affordable for care providers and patients, all while improving patient safety,” said Glenn Keet, senior vice president of business development for OptumInsight. “OHIT will deploy a point to point network using Directprotocols as an adjunct to Axolotl’s Clinical Messaging® between physicians and patients, and will also have the leading solution for enabling authorized access to complete medical records for patients regardless of where the patients have received their care.”
The Arkansas Office of Health Information Technology is OptumInsight’s tenth statewide HIE customer, after Health Information Network of Arizona, Michigan Health Information Network Shared Services in Michigan, HealthInsight in Nevada, Health Information Partnership for Tennessee (HIP TN), among other leading statewide (Idaho, Maryland, Nebraska, Utah andin partnership with Affiliated Computer Services Inc. Kentucky) Health Information Exchanges that have selected OptumInsight’s Axolotl HIE solutions. Today, Axolotl HIE is connecting more than 55,000 physicians, 165,000 healthcare professionals, 375 hospitals, and 26 regional health information organizations (RHIOs) – including 5 Beacon Communities as part of the Beacon Community Cooperative Agreement Program.
The Axolotl HIE Solution
An HIE network connects all of the participating care providers and their patient record systems within its defined medical community – a hospital, independent delivery network (IDN), region or state. Once connected, patient-authorized participants can instantly receive and exchange their patient’s clinical results as well as access a complete and up-to-date medical record at the point of care, directly from their system of choice. This supports clinical decisions and efforts to improve quality of care and patient safety.
The Axolotl HIE Solution from OptumInsight connects hundreds of thousands of health care professionals across statewide exchanges and regional health information organizations, as well as Beacon communities, accountable care organizations and independent delivery networks. For more information visit www.axolotl.com.
About the Arkansas Office of Health Information Technology
The Arkansas Office of Health Information Technology (OHIT) is responsible for establishing the State Health Alliance for Records Exchange (SHARE), the statewide interoperable health information exchange, and for coordinating health information technology activities throughout the state. Through the use of federal and state resources, OHIT and SHARE will improve the quality of health for Arkansans by enabling the more effective use of electronic health information technology to improve the delivery of healthcare services. For more information about OHIT, visit www.ohit.arkansas.gov; for further information on SHARE, visit http://sharearkansas.com
About OptumInsight
OptumInsight provides health information, technology and consulting services. Commercial health plans, physicians, hospitals, life sciences companies, government agencies and other organizations that comprise the health care system depend on OptumInsight solutions and insights to improve their performance. OptumInsight is part of Optum, a leading information and technology-enabled health services company dedicated to making the health system work better for everyone. For more information, visit www.optuminsight.com.
About AFMC and HIT Arkansas
HITArkansas, a division of the Arkansas Foundation for Medical Care, is the federally designated Health Information Technology Regional Extension Center (HITREC) for the state of Arkansas. HITArkansas’ purpose is to help health care providers in their use of health information technology by offering guidance, technical assistance and education of financial incentives associated with transitioning to the use of electronic health records (EHR’s).
About Oleen Pinnacle Healthcare Consulting
Oleen Pinnacle is a national healthcare consulting firm focused solely on information systems with an expertise in the business and practice of healthcare. Our clients include all types of healthcare organizations, from integrated delivery systems to HMO’s, medical practices, hospitals and State healthcare agencies. Since 1988, Oleen Pinnacle has assisted clients with every aspect of the information management process including project management, analysis, business process reengineering, implementations, conversions, custom programming, training, EDI, and facilities management. Oleen Pinnacle services clients from corporate offices in Little Rock, Arkansas.
