Health System plans to provide Polk County patients PHR; enhance access for all providers in Polk County
ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Lakeland Regional Health System, an 851-bed community hospital along the I-4 corridor between Tampa and Orlando in central Florida, has chosen RelayHealth for secure enterprise health information exchange (HIE) between the facility and its employed and affiliated physicians, and to provide the citizens of Polk County a connected and actionable personal health record (PHR). Lakeland’s goal is to enhance care coordination by enabling physicians to exchange health information with the health system without regard to what electronic health record (EHR) system a physician uses. Physicians will be able to place orders, receive test results and exchange continuity of care documents (CCD) through integrated workflow. Additionally, the health information exchange will help physicians better engage patients as fully active participants in the patient’s own care.
Mary Carroll Ford, vice president/CIO, Lakeland Regional Health System, said the system is carefully managing the change to health information exchange to ensure success for all participants. “Before we chose a health information exchange provider,” Ford stated, “we met with physicians from two large practices and the independent physicians in the area. We wanted to ensure that all stakeholders are committed to the success of the health information exchange initiative. These practices use different EHR systems, so we had to make sure the health information exchange platform we chose could securely share information without regard to what EHR system a physician uses. RelayHealth meets that criteria, and enables interoperable health information exchange between the disparate EHR systems our providers use.”
Ford continued, “Secure health information exchange will help us maintain the outstanding quality of care provided in our area while improving collaboration between care providers across all care settings. Additionally, RelayHealth will enable us to provide secure personal health records for Polk County residents. This will help our affiliated physicians demonstrate meaningful use by allowing them to provide electronic health information to patients who request it. This is important to many of our seasonal residents. The physicians in their home states will be able to use RelayHealth to view a patient’s health information from a Lakeland-affiliated provider. Finally, we will leverage RelayHealth to participate in larger, regional health information exchanges as they form.”
“Increasingly, hospitals and health systems across the nation are implementing enterprise health information exchange to collaborate electronically with physicians and patients,” said Jim Bodenbender, president, RelayHealth Connectivity Solutions. “By solving business problems and building stronger provider-patient relationships through health information exchange, Lakeland maintains its position as a community leader and is positioned well for participation in regional health information exchange.”
Bodenbender continued, “As patient demand grows for access to electronic health data, the importance of the PHR will grow as well. By offering every citizen of Polk County a secure PHR, Lakeland is sending a strong message to patients that Lakeland respects the healthcare partnership between providers and patients.”
About Lakeland Regional Health System
Lakeland Regional Medical Center (LRMC) is a not-for-profit, 851-bed tertiary care hospital with a history of providing the latest technology to the community it serves. Founded in 1916, it is now one of the Southeast’s largest and most comprehensive healthcare facilities. LRMC’s chest pain and primary stroke centers are both accredited by the Joint Commission, and its Heart Center is recognized as a leading program by the Society of Thoracic Surgeons. The emergency department sees the highest volume of ER patients in Florida in a single location, and is a certified Trauma II facility. LRMC also offers a full-range of adult and pediatric acute care services and is the only hospital in Polk County to offer pediatric emergency and intensive care. The hospital is also home to an extensive array of minimally invasive and robotic surgery specialties and procedures. Outpatient clinics for cancer care, orthopedics, mental health, and rehabilitation extend the system’s reach. For more information, call 863-687-112 or visit www.lrmc.com.
About RelayHealth
RelayHealth, McKesson’s connectivity business, enables the secure exchange of clinical, financial and administrative information between patients, providers, payers, pharmacies, pharmaceutical manufacturers and government agencies. RelayHealth processes nearly 15 billion healthcare transactions annually as the result of integrating the delivery of high-quality care and improving the financial outcomes for its customers. For more information, call 888.743.8735, or visit our Web site at www.RelayHealth.com. Follow us on Twitter (@RelayHealth) or visit the RelayHealth Facebook page.
CONTACT:
RelayHealth
Lynne Durham, 770-237-7506
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KEYWORDS: United States North America Florida Georgia
INDUSTRY KEYWORDS: Technology Data Management Software Practice Management Health Hospitals
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