Care providers discuss plan for sharing
patient information
by Stephanie Esters |
Kalamazoo
Gazette
Tuesday January 06, 2009, 8:00 AM
KALAMAZOO
-- Southwestern Michigan is well on its way to having a
regional online database through which
patient health information could be
shared confidentially among care
providers.
The system is called the Southwest
Michigan Health Information Exchange and
would be used by health-care providers
in Berrien, Branch, Cass, Calhoun, Kalamazoo, St.
Joseph and Van
Buren counties.
The Michigan Department of Community Health gave a
$580,000 grant to ChangeScape, a
Birmingham
health-care management advisory firm, to
create the regional Health Information
Exchange, or HIE.
Its implementation is dependent on
support from area health-care providers.
The new system would allow providers to
find out about a patient's medical
history, any medications he or she is
taking, any complications from the
medication and any medical procedures
the patient has undergone, said Mindy
Richards, chief executive officer of
ChangeScape.
The system also would allow patients to
spend less time filling out
health-information forms when they go to
a provider, Richards said.
Patients, however, could opt not to have
their health information shared, she
said.
The regional database is part
of a national effort to improve how
health care is delivered, according to
the Web site of the Southwest Michigan
Health Information Exchange.
Work on the regional system started in
September, according to Richards.
ChangeScape is now coordinating
discussions of the system among the
Michigan Department of Community Health,
the Michigan State University/Kalamazoo
Center for Medical Studies and the
region's five major health-care
providers: Borgess Health, Bronson
Healthcare Group, Battle Creek Health
System, St. Joseph's
Lakeland Health Care and
Marshall's
Oaklawn Hospital.
Richards said ChangeScape is seeking
other health-care participants, too, who
could provide expertise in designing the
information exchange.
If the stakeholders agree to go ahead
with the plan, ChangeScape could apply
for another grant from the state to
implement it.
A decade ago, there was only a
sprinkling of these exchanges, but now
more and more are appearing, said Brett
Mello, director of information
technology for Bronson Healthcare Group,
the parent organization of Bronson Methodist
Hospital.
Mello said he sees benefits not just for
doctors and patients but for public
health organizations that monitor health
trends. "I think it's a larger picture
that we're just starting to realize the
value of," he said.
George Dix, chief information officer
for Borgess Healthcare (which includes Borgess Medical Center),
said he, too, supports the regional HIE.
"It's really the ability to provide
common health information for different
health facilities," Dix said. "I think
it's good news. It's good for the
patient, it's good for the physician,
it's good for the provider."
Contact Stephanie Esters at
se@kalamazoogazette.com or 388-8554.
