Colorado HIEs Begin Exchanging Clinical Documents

Two large Colorado health information exchanges have expanded the extent of their data sharing. Quality Health Network (QHN), based in Grand Junction on the Western Slope, and Colorado Regional Health Information Organization (CORHIO), based in Denver, said the exchange of clinical documents will enable better care coordination for millions of Colorado patients.

Over the last two years, QHN and CORHIO have been notifying providers when a health event occurred for one of their patients through an alerting system.  Now they can exchange care summaries of recent visits, so that no matter the geographic location of the physicians and care team, vital information can be quickly accessed throughout Colorado. Using either QHN’s or CORHIO’s system, a provider can find hospital records, clinical documents, test results, and more information to care for patients who may have traveled to another location to receive care or were out of town when a health incident occurred.

 This connection is part of the Strategic Health Information Exchange Council’s Patient-Centered Data Home project, which is a cost-effective, scalable method of exchanging patient data among HIEs.

 From January through October of this year, the HIEs shared 241,932 event notifications, enabling real-time care coordination for Colorado patients. QHN and CORHIO connect 89 Colorado hospitals and more than 7,600 providers. In addition, through the PCDH project, more than 679,000 messages have been shared from 26 HIEs through QHN’s infrastructure since 2016.

 “Securely sharing health data across systems and regions is an important step in providing high-quality, low-cost healthcare,” said Dick Thompson, QHN Executive Director and CEO, in a statement. “This link between QHN and CORHIO provides a vital connection to health data for all Coloradans. QHN will continue building on our successful connections to health information exchanges in Utah and Arizona and the Veterans’ Administration, establishing an important network across the western U.S. and nationally.”

 “As health information exchange expands across the nation, Colorado remains on the forefront of this shift,” said Morgan Honea, CORHIO’s CEO, in a statement. “This collaboration between QHN and CORHIO ensures caregivers across the state have access to accurate and timely information, including clinical care summaries, regardless of their location or the system they use to manage medical records. This statewide interoperability is a vital step in Colorado’s participation in national data exchange expansion.”