Kaiser Permanente Colorado, the largest nonprofit health plan in the sate, has joined its statewide health information exchange (HIE), the Colorado Regional Health Information Organization (CORHIO), announced this week.
The payer plans to initially utilize the HIE information for members in southern Colorado, including Colorado Springs and Pueblo, and says it hopes to later expand to other parts of the state. It has some history with CORHIO. In 2010, it previously participated in a more limited HIE pilot project with CORHIO, funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) to share information among emergency departments.
It is the first payer to join the HIE. Already, the HIE includes 31 hospitals, more than 1,300 office-based providers, 123 long-term and post-acute care facilities, 21 behavioral health centers and three large medical laboratories connected to the CORHIO HIE. Additionally, CORHIO says it will add 17 additional hospitals, more than 700 additional office-based providers, three additional long-term and post-acute care providers, two behavioral health centers, and two regional laboratories.
"This partnership with CORHIO will serve as a valuable addition to Kaiser Permanente's robust system of electronic medical records, allowing for enhanced care coordination and communication between our providers and partner hospitals in southern Colorado," stated Donna Lynne, DrPH, executive vice president of Kaiser Foundation Hospitals and Health Plan, Inc. and president of Kaiser Permanente Colorado. "We are pleased to be the first Colorado health plan to join CORHIO's network, a system that is in line with our values of health care quality, efficiency and affordability."
