Pioneering data exchange takes the next step

The Indiana Health Information Exchange (IHIE) has started sending lab data directly into the EHR of the Community Health Network, one of Indianapolis' four major healthcare systems. What this means is that physicians who use CHN's GE Centricity EHR can now receive results from any of the area's hospitals and have them go right into their patient records. Previously, physicians could only access data from hospitals outside CHN by going to the IHIE web portal or having the results faxed to them.

"We know patient care doesn't just happen in one hospital or hospital system," says Harry Laws, MD, chief medical officer of Community Physicians of Indiana (CPI), part of Community Health Network. "These enhancements collect the test data, regardless of where they were performed, and put them in front of the quarterback, our primary care physicians, who are responsible for keeping track of their patient's care. It saves time in the office, time for the patients and makes the whole process more effective."

IHIE is now testing interoperability with 10 other EHR vendors and is in discussions to test with others. IHIE says it anticipates rolling out this capability to other hospital systems in Indiana.