Ten months after the Statewide Health Information Network for New York launched its statewide patient record look up service, healthcare professionals can now access the records of more than 8.8 million patients who have given consent across the state.
According to the New York eHealth Collaborative (NYeC), the Statewide Health Information Network for New York (SHIN-NY) now holds healthcare records for more than 40 million patients, processes over 2.8 million transactions a month, and has over 62,000 users.
The SHIN-NY statewide patient record look up (sPRL) service took five years to develop. Through sPRL, participating members can now search for and access the records of more than 8.8 million patients who have given consent to allow access to their healthcare records.
NYeC is a not-for-profit organization, working in partnership with the New York State Department of Health to improve healthcare through health IT. Founded in 2006 by healthcare leaders, NYeC receives funding from state and federal grants to serve as the focal point for health IT in the State of New York. NYeC coordinated the creation of the SHIN-NY to allow the electronic exchange of clinical records between participating healthcare providers. SHIN-NY is a “network of networks” that links New York’s eight regional Qualified Entities (QEs) throughout the state; one of the eight QEs being HealthlinkNY. As previously reported by Healthcare Informatics Managing Editor Rajiv Leventhal, HealthlinkNY, which operates the health information exchange (HIE) in the southern tier of New York and the Hudson Valley, is seeing success with its “Just Say Yes” campaign to increase patient education and consent.
“The SHIN-NY allows New York State healthcare providers to access important healthcare information to achieve better coordination of care of patients across New York State. We are quickly approaching the moment when patients can be confident that health records from one provider can be viewed by another provider without having to transfer physical copies or faxing of documents,” Howard Zucker, M.D., commissioner of health for New York State, said in a statement.
NYeC also recently announced that Valerie Grey will be succeeding Dave Whitlinger as the organization’s executive director. Grey was most recently executive vice president policy at The Healthcare Association of New York State (HANYS).
David Klein, chair of the NYeC board of directors, commended Whitlinger’s leadership of NYeC and his commitment to the SHIIN-NY. “He has devoted enormous energy and dedication to ensuring the network is stable, key services are available, and securing the funding and future direction SHIN-NY. Under Dave’s leadership, New York has established itself as the leader in driving health information exchange in the country,” Klein said.
