A collaboration between Michigan’s two largest providers of health information exchange will now allow the state’s physicians and other healthcare providers to share medical records electronically.
The agreement between Great Lakes Health Information Exchange and Michigan Health Connect means that medical professionals treating about half the people in Michigan will have immediate access to vital medical information via a secure electronic network. More than 3,000 provider offices and 96 hospitals are involved.
Michigan Health Connect directly serves 29 medical providers in mid-Michigan, and Great Lakes Health Information Exchange serves about 100 mid-Michigan providers.
Benefiting are patients and physicians in places such as Ann Arbor, Mich., where the University of Michigan Medical Center was served by the Great Lakes Health Information Exchange, and St. Joseph Mercy Hospital, which was served by Michigan Health Connect.
“This is an important advancement for healthcare in Michigan,” Doug Dietzman, executive director of Michigan Health Connect, said in a statement. “It means that most of the clinical information exchanged electronically throughout Michigan will be handled by this new, expanded network. Such coordination is vital to improving healthcare in this state and beyond.”
