Electronic health records are helping fill a void of information that can increase the cost burden on the health care system at large, but a big problem among providers who invest in the expensive upgrade to the new technology is that different brands don’t communicate with each other.
Smaller practices can’t necessarily afford the larger systems like Epic and Cerner, and even the two leading companies don’t allow sharing of information from one provider to another — despite using the same platform.
But health information exchanges at the state level are helping alleviate that problem.
The Medical Society of New Jersey has been working on connecting smaller providers to the state system that already feeds from county-level data and includes the larger health care systems in the state.
On Tuesday, MSNJ announced the launch of the exchange, OneHealth New Jersey.
“OneHealth New Jersey provides a common-sense solution for our state. With growing demands of patient data from Medicare, Medicaid and private payers, OneHealth New Jersey is ready to go at no additional cost to the state,” said MSNJ board President Dr. Christopher Gribbin. “It’s technology developed by physicians for physicians and other clinicians — people who understand patient care and the demands of a business practice.”
Board of trustees member and exchange advisory committee Chairman Dr. Kennedy Ganti said the exchange is a meaningful solution to the communication gap.
“OneHealth New Jersey provides a meaningful solution to the problems medical practices and physician-led ACOs face connecting their electronic medical record systems,” he said. “Physicians will be able to access clinical information about patients from any location — work, home, the hospital. Timely communication and care coordination will be streamlined between physician offices, hospitals, labs, pharmacies and referring physicians across the state. It also improves efficiency by reducing time wasted trying to locate information and reduces the need for duplicate tests and procedures.”
