Health care organizations connect medical records to enhance care for millions of patients
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Carolinas HealthCare System and Novant Health today announce a partnership to merge critical patient information, which will give providers access to the important patient records they need for improving quality and coordination of care for patients who see providers at both health systems in a secure environment.
As the two largest health care systems in the region, Carolinas HealthCare System and Novant Health have chosen to build connectivity through their respective Health Information Exchange (HIE) systems to improve the overall patient experience and the health of the communities they serve. This new partnership will allow physicians and clinicians to see relevant portions of patients’ electronic medical records regardless of where they receive care. The partnership is a significant step toward improving efficiencies and cost by reducing readmissions, duplicative work, tests and procedures.
“Sharing records and connecting systems is the next step in the journey to value-based, personalized care for our patients and communities,” said Craig Richardville, chief information and analytics officer for Carolinas HealthCare System. “This collaboration will improve efficiency and enhance patient care and allow providers to make more informed decisions because of a more timely and broader view of our patients’ health and medication information. What used to take days or weeks to receive patient information from another health system will now be near instantaneous.”
Providers are able to gain access to a patient’s history from all participating community providers in an HIE. The patient information available typically includes demographics, test results, transcribed documents, medical diagnoses and visit summaries. Electronic Health Record sharing between Carolinas HealthCare System and Novant Health will include approximately 9 million unique patient records.
“Our partnership is transforming care for our patients and our providers by securely exchanging patients’ medical information among providers in and outside of our healthcare system. This improves the overall patient experience. It also reduces medical redundancies, such as duplication of testing, which can reduce costs for patients that receive care from multiple providers,” said Dr. AJ Patefield, Novant Health chief medical information officer. “Our goal is to ensure our providers have the most up-to-date information and give them the opportunity to spend more meaningful time with their patient versus tracking down test results or clinical data. This is just one more way we are enhancing the coordination of care for our patients.”
Novant Health and Carolinas HealthCare System are also working in partnership to address healthcare disparities. The goal of the collaboration is to effectively pool efforts and resources, build upon existing work, and come together for the greater good of the community. Together with other community organizations, they are focused on increasing access to care; establishing resources for mental health and disease prevention; and addressing community need and the social determinants that directly affect the health and well-being of our citizens.
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