Providers at 125 care locations in the Bronx now may access patients’ clinical data with appropriate patient consent through the Initiate Health Information Exchange solution. With the Bronx RHIO in place, authorized physicians and nurses now have the ability to view a patient’s medical records from across participating hospitals, ambulatory care centers, physician offices and long-term and homecare services.

Secure access to relevant medical information about individual patients from multiple sites helps clinicians in emergency departments and at other provider locations improve treatment, prevent prescription errors and avoid duplicate testing.

As part of the Bronx RHIO implementation, the Initiate Health Information Exchange solution helps participants accurately identify a patient at the point of service by matching, linking and locating a patient’s records from across the network of healthcare systems. Initiate® software also integrates with the dbMotionT solution, which serves as the interoperability and health-information-exchange platform for some of the world’s most advanced health information networks and delivery systems and facilitates secure access to integrated medical records for the Bronx RHIO.

The combined solution helps improve efficiencies, increase patient and provider satisfaction, reduce errors that result from poor data quality and create an interoperable environment that allows organizations to better serve their communities. It can also help save millions of dollars in administrative costs.

“The Bronx RHIO is exemplary in its work in the state of New York and should be commended nationally for providing the secure exchange of medical information to improve patient safety and service,” said Lorraine Fernandes, vice president, healthcare industry ambassador, Initiate Systems. “We are proud that the Initiate Health Information Exchange solution is part of the initiative to improve the quality of care for the residents of the Bronx.” The Bronx Regional Health Information Organization (Bronx RHIO) is a not-for-profit organization established by the borough’s leading healthcare organizations.

Participating members are:

Hospitals
Bronx Lebanon Hospital, Children’s Hospital at Montefiore, Jacobi Medical Center, James J. Peters Bronx Veterans Administration Medical Center, Lincoln Medical & Mental Health Center, Montefiore Medical Center, North Central Bronx Hospital, Our Lady of Mercy Medical Center, St Barnabas Hospital.

Community Health Centers
Bronx Community Health Network, Dr. Martin Luther King Health Center, Institute for Family Health, Mercy Community Care, MIC-Women’s Health Services, Morrisania Neighborhood Family Care Center, Morris Heights Health Center, Segundo Ruiz Belvis Neighborhood Family Care Center, Union Community Health Center, Urban Health Plan.

Long-Term Care Facilities
Beth Abraham Family of Health Services, Bronx Lebanon Special Care Center, Hebrew Home for the Aged at Riverdale, James J. Peters VA Medical Center, Jewish Home and Hospital - Bronx Division, Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Campus, St. Barnabas Nursing Home.

Home Care Services
Beth Abraham Family of Health Services, Montefiore Home Health Care, Visiting Nurse Regional Health Care System, Visiting Nurse Service of New York.

“The Bronx RHIO is transforming healthcare delivery in the borough into a patient-centered, rational and more cost-effective system,” said Barbara Radin, executive director of the Bronx RHIO. “By implementing our health information exchange with Initiate software at the core, patients and clinicians participating in this program now have access to vital information when and where it is needed. This will significantly enhance patient safety and outcomes while greatly improving quality of care.”

“The launch of the Bronx RHIO puts our organization at the forefront of bringing medical care in the borough into the Information Age,” said Don Ashkenase, chairman of the board of the Bronx RHIO. “While many individual healthcare organizations in the Bronx have established their own electronic medical record systems in recent years, the Bronx RHIO makes possible, for the first time, the exchange of patient data between these organizations.”

About Initiate Systems:
Initiate Systems, Inc. enables organizations to strategically leverage and share critical data assets. Its master data management (MDM) software and experience as an information exchange leader provide organizations with complete, accurate and real-time views of data spread across multiple systems or databases, even outside the firewall. This allows companies to unlock the value of their data assets for competitive advantages or operational improvements. Initiate Systems operates globally through its subsidiaries, with corporate headquarters in Chicago and offices across the U.S., and Toronto, London and Sydney. For more information, visit www.InitiateSystems.com.