July 05, 2017 – Two California medical centers recently connected to a nonprofit health information exchange (HIE) in an effort to improve care coordination for patients and providers within their networks.
Both Glendale Adventist Medical Center and White Memorial Medical Center signed two-year contracts with the Los Angeles Network for Enhanced Service (LANES) to utilize its health data exchange platform for more efficient information access for public and private providers.
The two medical centers are part of the Adventist health system.
By connecting to LANES, Glendale Adventist and White Memorial will have access to the database within the platform’s digital system. Participating hospitals and staff members nationwide can query the database for information regarding Medi-Cal and uninsured patients not already entered into the local system to improve care coordination.
“To enable coordinated and high-quality care for patients in the safety net, doctors and nurses from different clinics and hospitals need easy access to each other’s medical records,” said LANES Board Chair Anish Mahajan in a public statement.
The LANES health data exchange platform aggregates data and patient health records from local hospitals according to existing information exchange standards.
Health data within the LANES system includes patient lab test results, pharmacy information, and image data.
LANES is an opt-in HIE. Patients must consent to having their data involved in the exchange. Additionally, an electronic record exists of all providers and users who have accessed the patient’s information.
Partnering with LANES allows patients and providers within the Adventist health system to benefit from a better-connected community and well-informed care delivery.
“It’s about making information available more broadly so that it can be used at the point of care to provide better, faster and less duplicative care,” CIO for Adventist Health Sharon Correa told a local LA news source.
While LANES serves all hospitals within the Adventist health system, Correa stated her primary focus will be on White Memorial.
White Memorial is located in East Los Angeles in a historically underserved community. Patients in the area are considered part of a distressed population contending with social health determinants such as poverty and homelessness.
LANES has stated one of its primary aims in collaborating with health systems such as Adventist Health is to improve care coordination specifically for underserved populations.
Partnering with both Glendale Adventist and White Memorial and enabling more secure information exchange will optimize health outcomes for patients across the area.
“Adventist Health is committed to improving the health of the populations we serve,” stated Beth Zachary. “Lanes provides the technical framework to support improved access to information to support high quality, cost-effective care.”
Two health systems in North Carolina similarly collaborated to improve care coordination through a recent agreement to share data between Cerner and Epic technologies.
Carolinas Health System and Novant Health reached the agreement in an effort to improve patient EHR access and exchange for patients and providers at both health facilities.
Cerner’s health information exchange and the Sequoia Project’s eHealth Exchange will enable patient health data sharing between the two health systems.
The partnership Carolinas Healthcare and Novant Health covers nearly 9 million patient records and includes health data such as demographic information, test results, diagnoses, and visit summaries.
The rival health systems are entering into the agreement in an effort to improve interoperability and clinical efficiency.
