Two nonprofit Northern California health information exchanges, SacValley MedShare and Connect Healthcare, have agreed to merge operations.
Connected Healthcare covers Sonoma, Napa, Solano and Yolo counties, while SacValley serves Butte, Colusa, Glenn, Lassen, Modoc, Plumas, Shasta, Siskiyou, Sutter, Tehama, Trinity and Yuba counties. Participant members include Ampla Health, Dignity Health Systems, Enloe Medical Center, Partnership HealthPlan of California and Feather River Tribal Health. Other participants include Adventist Health, St. Joseph Health System, Redwood Community Health Coalition and NorthBay Healthcare.
The resulting HIE, which will retain the SacValley MedShare name, will provide services to hospitals, clinics and physicians in 16 counties across 37,799 square miles, stretching from the Sacramento Valley to the Oregon and Nevada borders. It will provide access the medical records of 2.6 million patients in Northern California.
"Good communication is key to providing effective, safe, and efficient patient care management," said Elizabeth Steffen, project manager for SacValley MedShare, in a prepared statement. "We are excited about adding the Connect Healthcare region into our family of hospitals, clinics and health-service organizations."
SacValley MedShare makes use of technology systems from Collective Medical Technologies, including EDie -- a software solution that allows information to be shared from any emergency room a patient has visited, which is offered to members at no cost.
As part of the acquisition, four board members from Connect Healthcare will sit on the board of SacValley MedShare, as it looks to expand. SacValley said negotiations are already under way to add nearly two dozen healthcare providers to its list of 45, including national hospital systems, clinics and academic centers.
