HARRISBURG, Pa., Nov. 13, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Pennsylvania eHealth Collaborative announced today that it has signed up 3,449 healthcare providers for DIRECT messaging, exceeding the 1,000 goal set by the federal government.
"Healthcare providers across Pennsylvania are taking advantage of modern technology that allows them to communicate electronically – and securely – with one another," Alix Goss, Program Manager for the Collaborative said. "Rather than using fax machines and the mail, they can now transmit patient records instantly via a secure email. It's a simple solution that can lead to better care and outcomes."
DIRECT is a simple, secure way to transmit patient care records, referrals, discharge summaries and other clinical documents among health care providers, particularly those providers that do not have the resources or technical capacity to engage in more comprehensive health information exchange. Both the sender and recipient must be DIRECT subscribers.
Through an innovative grant program offered by the Collaborative, doctors and other licensed health care providers received one year of free DIRECT messaging services when they signed up with a certified health information service provider (HISP). From May 1 to Oct. 31, the Collaborative provided $250 to the HISPs for each provider they registered. In all, more than $862,000 is to be distributed.
Health information exchange (HIE) is the electronic movement of health–related information among unaffiliated organizations according to nationally recognized standards. Pennsylvania was awarded $17.1 million under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to help establish a health information exchange.
The PA eHealth Collaborative is working to meet federal requirements and enable the use of information technology to advance HIE, which has been shown to improve healthcare quality and efficiency, ensure patient safety and provide secure, confidential access to health information for making the best possible health decisions.
For more information, visit the PA eHealth Collaborative website at www.paehealthcollab.com.
Media contact: Dan Egan, 717-772-4237
SOURCE Pennsylvania Office of Administration