Redlands Community Hospital One of the First Hospitals in the Inland Empire
to Join New County-wide Health
Information-Sharing Network
REDLANDS, Calif. - Redlands Community Hospital is one of the newest members
of the Inland Empire Health
Information Exchange (IEHIE) - which is part of a strategic plan for the
mobilization of health care information
electronically across organizations within regions and ultimately, the state.
Redlands Community Hospital joins local hospitals, medical groups, and
more than 2,000 physicians in the
information-sharing network, linking health care providers throughout
Riverside and San Bernardino Counties, with a
population of over 4.1 million.
"Our goal with the Inland Empire Health Information Exchange will
limit the number of redundant procedures which
will help reduce costs, provide patients' critical information, such
as labs and radiology results-- at the physician' s
fingertips," said Richard Gagnon, director, Information Systems at
Redlands Community Hospital."
The IEHIE is one of 17 Health Information Exchanges (HIE) in California.
The state is working on building its own
intrastate HIE called Cal eConnect. Participants in the Inland Empire
Information Health Information Exchange
(IEHIE) include: Arrowhead Regional Medical Center (ARMC), San Bernardino
County Medical Clinics and Public
Health, Riverside County Regional Medical, Center (RCRMC), Riverside County
Medical Clinics and Public Health,
and the Inland Empire Health Plan (IEHP).
"If one of our patients has been seen in the past by another physician
or admitted to emergency department
elsewhere in the region, their records can be retrieved by the new health
care provider with the help of IEHIE," adds
Gagnon.
As a participant of the health information exchange, Redlands Community
Hospital will be able to:
· Exchange real-time clinical information among participating providers
· View consolidated clinical data (allergies, test results, medications,
etc.) from one screen
· Receive electronic alerts and notifications on patients
· Submit laboratory and radiology orders and receive results online
· Create case management care plans for patients with chronic conditions
· Electronically transmit prescriptions
· View radiology reports and images online, linked to the patient record
"What we're building is a patient centered platform from participants,
and physicians, and populating this exchange
environment so that patients are able to see their medical records,"
said Richard Swafford, PhD, executive director
of the Inland Empire Health Information Exchange.
The IHIE will help keep patient records easily accessible and organized
during a time when the sources of health are
for a large number of people will be in constant change. When the project
is complete the new system will allow
patient information to be easily transmittable and accessed wherever the
patients seek care, adds Swafford.
For more information about Redlands Community Hospital, please visit
http://redlandshospital.org