Doctors turn to electronic records - Business First of Buffalo:

ukatekexo.wordpress.com
To advance EMR HealtheLink has signed agreements with six electronicd health recordstechnology firms, which will offer special priciny on their products and serviceds to local health-care organizations. HealtheLink, also knowbn as the (WYNCIE), is a collaborativee effort formed to enable the sharing ofhealthb information. Established with funding from the region’s health insurers and hospital major fundsinclude $9 million in state grants through the Healthj Care Efficiency and Affordabilith Law for New Yorkers (HEAL NY).
Dan Porreca, executive director, says physiciansa can now test and compare EMR products from the six selecter vendorsat HealtheLink’s learning lab in a neutral setting to determinwe which might work best for their practice. “Irt also gives us the ability to show how the interoperablre capabilities might impact them in their office and show how thedata flows,” he It also will help organizations fulfill the clinical priorities of the Statewide Health Information Network for New York. The statee is creating an interoperable system to connec t electronic health records to Medicaid and creatd a health information exchange to sharew data related to publichealth matters.
WNYCId has been cited for achieving these goalz ahead of other groups statewide and Porreca says. “It’s unique within New York and fromwhat I‘nm hearing from the vendors, it’s somethingt that we are kind of pioneering,” he Dr. Michael Cropp, president and CEO of , says the role of WNYCIw in connecting all of those EMRsis vital. as a board member of America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), has playe a role in helping to craft those federakl reform efforts that call for advances in HIT as a way to helpcut “We’re in a great position here in Western New York with WNYCIE to help accelerate that physician adoption and to make sure the informationm can flow around the communithy and follow the patient,” he says.
“Thagt is such a huge issue in terms of patien t safety and better quality and eliminating the duplicate testingf thattakes place.” The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act calls for investing $20 billion in stimulus fundin g for HIT initiatives, including Medicare and Medicaird incentives to encourage doctors, hospitals and othe providers. “There’s a sense that the rate of adoptiomn isgoing up,” Porreca says, addinhg that since the HealtheLink systej launched in January, the number of providers and useres participating has tripled. “I think the practicews are more and more recognizing that in thelong run, this is goingg to benefit them.
”