McKesson to Support Continuity of Care Across Nationwide Healthcare Information Exchange

McKesson today announced Horizon Connect^TM , a key component of its "Connect" strategy to enable health information exchange (HIE) and patient care coordination within communities, across regions and throughout the United States.

By integrating McKesson's widely deployed Horizon solution suite and the RelayHealth connectivity platform, Horizon Connect provides the interoperability foundation needed for caregivers to exchange critical patient information across encounters and care settings. With Horizon Connect, electronic records are updated at key patient events such as a physician office visit, an emergency room admission or a hospital discharge - fostering access by clinicians to the most current information. By enabling clinicians to seamlessly manage discrete actionable data from third-party systems as part of their workflow, McKesson's approach extends well beyond current industry requirements to set a new standard for care continuity, while preserving existing electronic health record (EHR) investments.

"McKesson's goal is to support caregiver collaboration and continuity of care," said Pat Blake, executive vice president and group president, McKesson Corp. "By incorporating the HIE functionality of RelayHealth into our major clinical solutions, McKesson has the market reach to set the stage for a national network of connected communities that are each aligned to support the patient."

Providence Health and Services in Portland, Ore., is a collaborative partner in developing the new connectivity approach. McKesson's Horizon Clinicals^TM suite soon will be meeting the needs of the community by exchanging discrete clinical data with third-party EHRs used across the continuum of care. The solution will enable information on patient medications to be shared between the health system's physician offices and acute-care settings, offering an effective strategy for information exchange with providers throughout the region. Providence Health recently won the CHIME Collaboration Award [1] for its efforts from the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives.

Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage, Calif., is another example of interoperability in action. The medical center provides Horizon Ambulatory Care ^TM , a key component of McKesson's enterprise Horizon Clinicals solution, to its core physician providers. However, Eisenhower recognized that many of its affiliated physicians utilize other ambulatory EHR solutions, including McKesson's Practice Partner ^® . As a result, to complement its clinical strategy Eisenhower also implemented the RelayHealth connectivity solution to connect its entire physician and patient community.

"Connectivity between patients and their physicians is an important part of our plan," explained David Perez, chief information officer for Eisenhower. "By including patients in our connectivity strategy, we give them an avenue for communication that helps them become more involved in their own care. Our technology strategies are playing a key role in advancing this aspect of our overall vision."

"Giving our Horizon customers the ability to exchange information across care settings and with patients is the first step to creating the HIE ubiquity necessary for effective care coordination," said Blake. "Horizon Connect offers a foundation for interoperability that not only promotes quality of care, but also positions healthcare providers to take advantage of incentive payments outlined in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act."

In the future, McKesson plans to expand its Connect strategy to include upcoming releases of other inpatient and physician office EHR solutions.

 About McKesson 

McKesson Corporation, currently ranked 15th on the FORTUNE 500, is a healthcare services and information technology company dedicated to helping its customers deliver high-quality healthcare by reducing costs, streamlining processes, and improving the quality and safety of patient care. McKesson has been in continuous operation for more than 175 years, making it the longest-operating company in healthcare today. Over the course of its history, McKesson has grown by providing pharmaceutical and medical-surgical supply management across the spectrum of care; healthcare information technology for hospitals, physicians, homecare and payors; hospital and retail pharmacy automation; and services for manufacturers and payors designed to improve outcomes for patients. For more information, visit us at www.mckesson.com [2] .

 About RelayHealth 

RelayHealth, McKesson's connectivity business, is an open network offering connectivity and application services among healthcare organizations, systems, and solutions. Its intelligent network is designed to streamline clinical, financial and administrative communication between patients, providers, payors, pharmacies, pharmaceutical manufacturers, and financial institutions. RelayHealth works to accelerate the delivery of high-quality care and improve financial performance through Software-as- a-Service (SaaS) solutions and securely processes more than 12.8 billion financial and clinical transactions annually. For more information, call (800) 778-6711, or visit our Web site at www.RelayHealth.com [3] .