Health Information Exchange Enhances Clinical Collaboration

Information-sharing and interoperability are key to ensuring optimal patient care—especially for large health networks like Boston Health Net (a partnership of Boston Medical Center, Boston University School of Medicine and 15 community health centers). In 2007, Boston Medical Center (BMC) and Boston Health Net (BHN) were awarded a grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration to develop and setup a health information exchange platform over 3 years.

The Clinical Information Exchange (CIE) shares patients’ health conditions, medications, allergies and lab results across the network by consolidating a patient’s medical information from multiple facilities into one single electronic medical record (EMR). Prior to the CIE, a provider had to log into multiple EMRs, with different passwords, to collect network-wide information about the patient. Since implementation, clinicians report that the ability to review a patient’s information across the continuum of care has provided a clearer patient profile, resulting in faster treatment and better care overall. They note a significant decrease in duplicative, unnecessary tests and treatments, which has cut costs and improved quality of care.

The system also supports a new Electronic Referral Management Portal that automates and streamlines the patient referral process. Clinicians can find specialists, book appointments online, transmit clinical data and track referrals from beginning to end through the portal. Since launching the product in May, BMC has improved scheduled referrals by 20% and reduced no-shows by 5%. The hospital also saw 10% referral volume growth, and is projected to generate an additional $7 million annually.

By the end of September 2009, the CIE will be in use throughout BMC and ten of its community health center partners. Phase 2 will expand the information exchange to include inpatient information such as discharge summaries, radiology reports, ED notes and immunizations.