Important news from HSX for June & July:
Penn Goes Live with Encounter Data
The Philadelphia hospitals of Penn Medicine are now live with providing an admission, discharge, transfer (ADT) data feed to HealthShare Exchange, the information from which populates the exchange’s Clinical Data Repository (CDR) along with that of other HSX members. As a result, this information now becomes available in near real time to other members that participate in HSX’s Encounter Notification Service (ENS), at the same time that care coordinators and providers at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Presbyterian Medical Center, and Pennsylvania Hospital also begin to take advantage of this hospital patient-encounter alerting service. With these invaluable notifications, health system and independent ambulatory practitioners, health plans, and accountable care organizations know when their patients interface with the region’s emergency departments, hospitals, or medical centers. (Chester County Hospital was the first Penn Medicine facility to go live with provision of this data feed and use of this service.)
Abington First to Provide Lab Feed
In July, Abington-Jefferson Health became the first HealthShare Exchange hospital member to provide an HL7 laboratory data feed to HSX. This information on test results for Abington patients will enhance HSX’s CDR, providing more complete information for any HSX members that query recent medical history on these patients from the repository. The lab feed includes general laboratories, blood-bank records, and pathology and microbiology results.
New Trustees Strengthen and Expand HSX Board
Trustees joining the HSX board this year continue to energize HealthShare Exchange. To date in 2017, the following dedicated new volunteers are helping to lead the exchange:
- Denise Croce, Executive Vice President, Health Partners Plans
- Susan L. Freeman, MD, MS, FACPE, FACE, Chief Medical Officer, Temple University Health System
- Ken Levitan, Chief Administrative Officer, Einstein Healthcare Network
- Neil Lubarsky, Senior Vice President for Finance and Chief Financial Officer, Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, who rejoins the board, moving from his previous role of treasurer to vice chair.
Busy Season for Spreading the Word on HSX
HealthShare Exchange continues to present widely within the healthcare, business, and information technology communities –– increasing awareness of health information exchange and HSX services in particular:
Earlier this summer, Yolande Greene, Project Manager at HSX, spoke at ONC Direct Exchange Workshop, held by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) in Washington, D.C. She reviewed Direct interoperability successes and innovations by HSX.
In June, Marty Lupinetti, Executive Director of HealthShare Exchange, presented to the Greater Philadelphia Business Coalition on Health (GPBCH). His talk helped to expand understanding among the region’s business leaders of HSX’s role in the healthcare ecosystem.
Rakesh Mathew, Program Manager at HSX, has spoken several times at the PHIT (Philadelphia Health IT) Circle, recently on the subjects of crowdsourcing and crowdstarting.
In July, HealthShare Exchange held a community service day.
HSX staff members volunteered in the Urban Tree Connection’s neighborhood market farm in West Philly. Read more.