Michigan HIE | Health Information Exchange for Michigan Residents | GFHIE

April 2, 2012 - PRLog -- Michigan HIE | Health Information Exchange for Michigan Residents | GFHIE. The Greater Flint Health Information Exchange is a revolutionary new HIE for Michigan Residents.  Please visit http://www.gfhie.com/Michigan-HIE-Health-Information-Exchange.html for more information.
•   Finally, a community wide electronic coordination of care that goes beyond the boundaries of hospital affiliations and individual health care business units.
•   Provides a secure and encrypted electronic exchange of patient's clinical information between physicians, hospitals and ancillary services within the Greater Flint area.
-   No more clip-board registration at new points of medical care
-   No more duplication of tests from provider to provider
-   Reduces delays in medical care due to mailing and faxing of medical records
•   Provides patients secure access to their electronic medical records from any Internet connection across all their medical providers, including laboratory, radiology, emergency room, primary care physician, specialist and hospital.
•   Because the patient has one longitudinal medical record across the community, the patient's health care team is up to date on prevention and wellness services that may be due.
•   Reduces the costs to coordination are by reducing paper shuffle and duplication of patient's registration, medical history, family history...
•   Offers a single secure communication portal for patients with all of the communities health care resources, including health department, hospitals, insurance companies, physicians and pharmacies.
•   Patients no longer have to maintain their own medical calendar, because as their medical team enters appointments they are automatically updated on the patient centric calendar that reflects the patients appointments across all their health care team members.

As part of the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA 2009), the Electronic Health Record Incentive Program (EHRIP) was created and provided many benefits for everyone involved in the continuum of patient health care, up to and including the patient. The EHRIP provisions, also known as “meaningful use requirements”, require the medical industry to provide patients with electronic access to their medical records. By providing patients with electronic access to their medical records, the EHRIP achieves its mission to encourage patients to become active participants in their own wellness. Electronic access to medical records may be achieved through a variety of methods such as:

•   Supplying patients with a portable thumb drives containing relevant medical records;
•   Offering patients the ability to use a kiosk in the waiting room to access their medical record;
•   Providing patients with access to a secure and encrypted Internet website to view their medical record.

One of the greatest challenges with achieving efficient and quality health care is coordinating a patient’s care between health care providers. Today, coordination is poorly attempted by having patients complete a clipboard survey of medical history at each point of medical care. This fundamental process reduces the integrity of the patient medical history because clipboard surveys differ, they may not be completed accurately each time, and the information isn’t generally shared with the different providers which results in fragmented silos of patient medical record information across the community. The Greater Flint Health Information Exchange (GFHIE) improves that patient and health care delivery experience. All physicians, hospitals, laboratories, radiology labs, physical therapy clinics, and home health services that provide health care services in Genesee, Shiawassee, and Lapeer counties may choose to be part of the GFHIE and contribute to a patients medical record. In turn, all patients that live in this region enjoy free access to:

•   Their complete medical record;
•   Laboratory results, scheduled appointments, medication lists, and immunizations...in real time;
•   Monitor the privacy of their medical record;
•   View medical education material, and much more.

When health care providers become participants of the GFHIE, their patients benefit by becoming partners in their wellbeing. The GFHIE is the tool to help empower patients in becoming educated consumers of health care.

Please visit http://www.gfhie.com/Michigan-HIE-Health-Information-Exch... for more information.

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Our mission at the Greater Flint Health Information Exchange is to improve the quality and efficiency of healthcare delivery while increasing overall participant experience through the use of patient-centric medical information systems.