Meridian Health in New Jersey Upgrades to CareAlign® Exchange
<0> Meridian HealthMichael McCauley, 732-751-7535orDodge Communications for ICAJeff Nessler, 770-576-2573 </0>
and , a leading provider of interoperability technology that enables health information exchange (HIE), announced today that Meridian has upgraded to to take advantage of a market leading platform that includes Direct messaging, a Continuity of Care Documents (CCD) repository, a patient identity manager and registry, health information services provider (HISP) capabilities and global opt-out for patients.
This new release expands upon the foundational interoperability already in place at Meridian, enabling the seamless and secure flow of patient records to benefit caregivers and patients in this Meridian-sponsored multi-county HIE. CareAlign Exchange will enable Meridian Health to integrate with the multiple electronic health records (EHR) already installed among the hospitals, clinics and physician practices that make up the integrated delivery network. Among the installed EHR systems currently participating in the exchange of information are Siemens (hospitals), and SigmaCare (LTC). System integration will be achieved with discrete data that flows into and out of these systems to the CareAlign Collaborate portal and into vendor EHRs at the point of care. This patient data will be visible in the workflow of the EHR.
“Upgrading to CareAlign Exchange not only facilitates the flow of patient data throughout the network, it increases our ability to add physician practices that want to join our exchange by allowing information transfer among physician practices, both owned and non-owned,” said Rebecca Weber, chief information officer of Meridian Health. “CareAlign Exchange also opens the door to Direct messaging and HISP-to-HISP communications, enabling physicians the ability to receive and return information from the HIE right into their electronic medical record.”
Meridian is also working toward integrating HIE data into its personal health record (PHR). The benefits of PHR access will allow patients to become more of a part of their own healthcare process with the ability to view their own charts, results and appointments.
“CareAlign Exchange gives our clients access to Direct messaging and contains many other robust features that support the exchange of health information in one of the most complete health networks on the east coast,” said Gary Zegiestowsky, chief executive officer, ICA. “The breadth of our platform will help ensure that Meridian can continue, and improve upon, its mission of bringing providers and patients together through the best available technology, improving secure communications which enhances care coordination, and reducing costs throughout its clinical network.”
Zegiestowsky added, “Integration testing with Siemens and SigmaCare went smoothly using ICAetc, ICA’s free and open interoperability testing forum for software vendors with the goal of ensuring that multiple disparate systems are able to connect and communicate.”
Meridian Health is one of New Jersey’s most comprehensive not-for-profit healthcare providers offering a wide-range of healthcare services, including home care and hospice, skilled nursing and sub-acute care facilities, physician practices, rehabilitation and fitness centers, occupational health, home medical equipment and in-home safety technology, ambulance and medical transportation, as well as outpatient laboratory, imaging, and surgery centers. Meridian has six primary hospital locations: and in Neptune, in Brick, in Red Bank, in Manahawkin and in Holmdel.
Meridian Health is a leading not-for-profit healthcare organization in New Jersey, comprising Jersey Shore University Medical Center and K. Hovnanian Children's Hospital in Neptune, Ocean Medical Center in Brick, Riverview Medical Center in Red Bank, Southern Ocean Medical Center in Manahawkin, Bayshore Community Hospital in Holmdel, and Meridian Partner Companies that include home health services, skilled nursing and rehabilitation centers, ambulatory care, ambulance services, and outpatient centers. Meridian Health has consistently been rated among the top performing health systems in New Jersey for clinical quality, is one of the FORTUNE "100 Best Companies to Work For", and is the recipient of numerous state and national recognitions for patient care and nursing excellence, including the distinction of being the first health system in the country to receive Magnet designation for nursing. Most recently, Meridian was named one of the Top 100 Integrated Health Systems in the country. For more information, visit
Originating from clinical informatics solutions developed within Vanderbilt Medical Center, ICA’s state-of-the-art CareAlign® interoperability and informatics platform addresses and solves data and communication challenges for many healthcare entities, including hospitals, IPAs, IDNs, HIEs, payers and others. CareAlign delivers a flexible architecture to connect, collect, consume and intelligently distribute data through Direct, IHE, HL7, and custom methods for use in EHRs, third party applications, and ICA’s applications. CareAlign unites a wide range of information supporting analytics associated with population health management, transitions of care communication, re-admissions reduction, meaningful use requirements and PCMH/ACO operations. Visit , and follow us on , , , and