North Carolina-based Carolinas HealthCare System and Novant Health, the two largest healthcare systems in the region, are partnering to share medical record data through their respective and separate health information exchange (HIE) systems.
This new partnership will allow physicians and clinicians to see relevant portions of patients’ electronic medical records (EMRs) regardless of where they receive care. “The partnership is a significant step toward improving efficiencies and cost by reducing readmissions, duplicative work, tests and procedures,” the organizations’ officials said in a press release announcement.
Carolinas HealthCare System accounts for almost 12 million patient interactions each year, while Novant Health serves more than 4 million patients annually. The two health systems have a combined 1,400 care locations in the region. EHR sharing between Carolinas HealthCare System and Novant Health will include approximately 9 million unique patient records, according to officials.
“Sharing records and connecting systems is the next step in the journey to value-based, personalized care for our patients and communities,” Craig Richardville, chief information and analytics officer for Carolinas HealthCare System, said in a statement. “This collaboration will improve efficiency and enhance patient care and allow providers to make more informed decisions because of a more timely and broader view of our patients’ health and medication information. What used to take days or weeks to receive patient information from another health system will now be near instantaneous.”
