Greater Houston Healthconnect Delivers Vital Integration For CHI St. Luke's Health Clinically Integrated Network

Houston, Texas (PRWEB) June 29, 2016

CHI St. Luke's Health (CHI St. Luke's) is now live in the Greater Houston Healthconnect community-based health information exchange (HIE). This connection gives CHI St. Luke's and its regional affiliates the ability to access real-time historical patient information and diagnostic images across the Baylor St. Luke's Health Network its clinically integrated network which includes eight hospitals, 16 hospital-based and freestanding emergency centers, and over 1,100 physicians.

As CHI St. Luke's continues to expand its geographic footprint in Southeast Texas, Healthconnect provides an efficient way to integrate the electronic health record (EHR) systems of new hospitals and practices. That kind of interoperability enables clinicians across the continuum to work together as a unified care team irrespective of location or disparate EHR and imaging technologies.

Michael Covert, CHI St. Luke's CEO explains, "Our partnership with Greater Houston Healthconnect is an essential component in CHI's strategy for growth. As we expand, the HIE enables us to integrate acquired and affiliated facilities internally within our own system, while also accessing care records and images from other providers in the community. We believe that seamless approach is ultimately more satisfying to the patient, more cost effective, and will result in better overall outcomes for each patient we are privileged to serve."

That level of interconnectivity is central to CHI St. Luke's position as an anchor in a national network of hospitals guided by a clinically integrated and health-oriented model.

The initial CHI St. Luke's connection to the HIE includes five area hospitals: Baylor St. Luke's Medical Center, CHI St. Luke's HealthSugar Land, The Woodlands, Lakeside and The Vintage Hospitals. Other system facilities, namely, CHI St. Luke's Memorial in Livingston, CHI St. Luke's Memorial in Lufkin, CHI St. Luke's HealthPatients Medical Center in Pasadena, CHI St. Joseph Health in Bryan, and CHI St. Luke's HealthBrazosport in Lake Jackson will be live shortly. Numerous physician practices and freestanding emergency centers are also implementing and will go live this year.

With just one connection to the HIE, CHI St. Luke's clinicians can now view information about their patients' care from a variety of other institutions and practices throughout Southeast Texas.

Stephen Moore, Senior Vice President, CMO for CHI St. Luke's Health, hailed system interoperability as an important move forward in the practice of 21st century medicine, "At CHI St. Luke's Health we're focused on healing communities and treating the whole person. That means looking at the range of healthcare encounters and considering a person's medical history with a broad perspective."

Nationally the momentum for HIE is building as health systems come to rely on access to a patient's complete community health record for value-based care models. Especially in Houston, with so many of the major healthcare organizations now participating, an increasing number of independent physician practices are proactively contacting the HIE to request access.

Nick Bonvino underscored CHI St. Luke's strategic relationship with GHH, "We are delighted to support CHI St. Luke's by integrating their acquired and affiliated entities. By connecting hospitals, clinics, physician practices, and freestanding ERs to their existing portfolio, as well as to all our participants across the region, care coordination is driving improvements in quality, safety, and efficiency."

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2016/06/prweb13520867.htm

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