The LINK                                 December 2016/Issue 27
Adoption
Percent of WNY practices who participate with HEALTHeLINK: 83%

Total number of patient consent forms signed: 877,753

Total results available through HEALTHeLINK: Nearly 189 million

Total number of patient record look up queries in HEALTHeLINK from January - November 2016: 3,739,600

Total number of practices with EMRs connected to HEALTHeLINK: 36
Data Sources
For a complete listing of data sources and participating practices, click here !
Top 15 Patient Data Query Users
  1. Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center
  2. Dent
  3. Greater Buffalo United Accountable Health Network
  4. WNY Urology
  5. Catholic Health System
  6. Kaleida Health System
  7. General Physicians
  8. Buffalo Heart Group
  9. Nephrology Associates
  10. Landmark Medical
  11. RPCI
  12. ECMC
  13. David Avino, MD
  14. UNYTS
  15. Gastroenterology Associates
HEALTHeLINK Functionality: Did you know?
Practice EMR Users, did you know your practice is now able to upload patient data to HEALTHeLINK at the close of a patient encounter?
 
Benefits to the practice could include:
  1. Reduced incoming phone calls or outbound faxing, as data would be available through a HEALTHeLINK query.
  2. Data submission could be used for quality reporting purposes for Health Plans (i.e. HEDIS), potentially reducing the need for chart reviews by payers.
Contact the HEALTHeLINK Account Management team at 716-206-0993, extension 105 for additional details.
HEALTHeLINK Medical Minutes
Have you caught HEALTHeLINK's Medical Minutes? They air Wednesdays during the 10 p.m. newscast on Fox 29 through the end of the year.
 
We continue to highlight members of the local medical community on the value and benefits of health information exchange, including Windsong Radiology, Dent Neurologic Institute and Daniels Family Chiropractic.
 
If you've missed any Medical Minutes this year, all are featured on our website.
Access to consented minor patients now available
Later this month, HEALTHeLINK will launch access to data on minor patients, aged 10-17, for any participating provider with whom the patient has a treating relationship. This access is dependent on a parent or legal guardian signing an affirmative HEALTHeLINK consent form for the minor patient.
 
The ability to access a minor's data was addressed earlier this year through changes to the New York State policy regarding access to patient data through a Qualified Entity.  Consent forms can be collected on minors starting now. HEALTHeLINK has completed changes to its software to allow for a minor patient to be consented. This represents a change in the long standing inability to consent and subsequently access to minor patient data through HEALTHeLINK.

*With this change, participating providers will have access to PHI of a minor patient (under the age of 18).  It is possible that this record contains minor consented information regarding services that are protected under NY State Law and may not be re-disclosed to the minor's parent or guardian without the minor's written consent.  Such services include but may not be limited to:  reproductive health services, mental health or substance use treatment, HIV testing and STD treatment or services consented to by an Emancipated Minor. 
 
For more information on access to minor patient data based on a parental consent, please contact HEALTHeLINK at 716-206-0993 ext. 105.
Collaborating nationwide
HEALTHeLINK is part of the Strategic Health Information Exchange Collaborative (SHIEC), the national trade association of community based HIEs made up of approximately 50 member organizations that manage and provide for the secure digital exchange of health data for hospitals, providers and other health care participants serving more than half of the U.S. patient population. SHIEC is at the forefront for the Patient Centered Data Home which has been demonstrated to improve patient care quality by enabling data exchange among physicians treating the same patients across state lines. To learn more about SHIEC, visit their website. 
Thank you for 10 years of health information exchange
HEALTHeLINK is marking the 10th anniversary of its formation this year. Today, we are proud to be one of the nation's leading regional health information exchange organizations and drive health information technology innovation here in Western New York and across the state through the SHIN-NY. On behalf of all of us at HEALTHeLINK, thank you for your continued participation, utilization and support of our health information exchange. HEALTHeLINK, It's Working!
What people are saying about HEALTHeLINK
"Our office started with HEALTHeLINK in 2009 and I cannot imagine where our practice would be without it. I think back to the days before EMR software and the piles of paper charts, faxes and papers that needed to be filed. Being as large of a facility as we are, to say we were up to our eyeballs with papers is a bit of an understatement. Shortly after we started our relationship with HEALTHeLINK, we quickly saw the benefit of time savings and patient care from being able to access records immediately through the HEALTHeLINK Portal. Gone are the days of our staff spending countless hours on the phone with patients and other offices attempting to track down information for our providers. Patients who believe they had a test at a facility that they don't even know the name of; now we have a better chance of locating that information and having it in the providers "hands" in a quick and efficient manner. I look at HEALTHeLINK as our "one-stop shop" for information we need, be it when the patient has consented for the transmission of their records via HEALTHeLINK." 

- Sarah Hunt, EHR analyst, DENT Neurologic Institute
HEALTHeLINK in the News

Business First: New digital tool can improve patient care

Business First: Is an electronic world a safer world?

Lockport Union Sun & Journal: HealtheLink, are you connected?
Happy Holidays from HEALTHeLINK!
Wishing you a very merry holiday season and a Happy New Year! We look forward to another great year of health information exchange and interoperability. 
Resources

   


Proud to be part of the Statewide Health Information Network of New York (SHIN-NY)