Dee Cantrell Named One of 50 Leaders in Health IT
Dedra (Dee) Cantrell, RN, BSN, and the CIO of Emory Healthcare, has been named by Becker's Health IT & CIO Review as one of the 50 Leaders in Health IT for 2015. Ms. Cantrell is a member of the GaHIN Board of Directors and serves as Chair of our Technology Committee.
Ms. Cantrell is the first female and the first nurse to serve as CIO of Emory Healthcare, where she has overseen the IT infrastructure of five hospitals, a clinic, physician practices, a geriatric center and more than 15,000 employees and 1,500 physicians since 2000. She also serves as associate director for enterprise clinical informatics for Emory's Center for Clinical Informatics and as deputy CIO for the university's Office of Information Technology.
Congratulations on this well-deserved recognition!
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GaHIN 2014 Annual Report Available Online
The 2014 GaHIN Annual Report is now available online and can be viewed or downloaded. This progress report provides an overview of GaHIN's formation, progress to date and long-term goals, and contains a wealth of information. For example:
- It has been almost 20 years since Georgia's healthcare stakeholders conceived of a statewide health information exchange.
- Providers have the ability to connect to two nationwide networks through GaHIN.
- GaHIN's goal is to have 80% of Georgia providers able to access their patient's health records through the statewide HIE by 2017.
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New GaHIN Initiatives Connecting More Providers with More Patient Records
It's called the snowball effect - roll a small ball of snow down a snow-covered hillside. As it rolls, the ball will pick up more snow, gaining more mass and surface area, and gathering even more snow and speed as it advances.
That analogy can be transferred to the benefits that accumulate as more providers join GaHIN. Once a critical mass of patient records are available - 18+ million currently - clinicians find more value in participating in GaHIN and become more eager to join.
Because higher participation benefits both physicians and patients, GaHIN continues to explore new connections that will deliver more value. Connections that are scheduled to be complete by the end of September include:
- Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities
- HealtheConnection
- GRAChIE
- Gwinnett Medical
- DaVita Dialysis
- East Tennessee HIE
- Alabama's One Health Record
- Veterans Administration Hospitals - Georgia
"These are very exciting times for GaHIN," says Dr. Denise Hines, Executive Director. "Our connection queue is full, with connections to regional HIEs, state agencies, specialty organizations, hospital systems and other state HIEs in progress. Additionally, all of GaHIN's committees are on regular meeting schedules, helping us explore new options that bring more value to members."
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DCH Supports Medicaid EHR Incentive Program with Boot Camp in Carrollton 9/10/15
The Georgia Department of Community Health (DCH) kicks off a series of Fall outreach events with a boot camp on September 10, 2015 in Carrollton. The free boot camp offers one-on-one assistance with applying to the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program.
The Georgia Medicaid EHR Incentive Program
is a voluntary, multi-year program administered by DCH.
Eligible providers with a Medicaid patient volume of at least 30 percent can receive up to $63,750 during their six years of program participation.
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Georgia Partnership for TeleHealth Joins GaHIN to Improve Care at School Clinics
Care providers at Georgia's school clinics will be able to remotely access student health information from pediatricians and other providers to deliver better onsite care now that Georgia Partnership For TeleHealth (GPT) has joined GaHIN. GPT is a charitable nonprofit promoting the establishment of telemedicine programs in communities throughout Georgia.
Participating school systems will be able to securely exchange information with more than 3,600 Georgia healthcare providers, including Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, the state's largest pediatric healthcare system. GaHIN also provides access to Georgia's immunization registry as well as connected providers nationwide.
"Our Rural School-Based Telehealth Center Initiative offers a number of benefits to students and families," said Sherrie Williams, Executive Director of GPT. "Students receive quality care without having to miss class. Parents don't have to leave work and lose wages to take their child to see the doctor. If a specialist visit is needed, it doesn't require hours in the car to reach a large healthcare center; the child can be examined right from the school clinic."
GPT has established telemedicine programs at rural Georgia school systems serving approximately 60 schools. At these institutions, school nurses use medical devices equipped with cameras to share data and images with healthcare providers, who view the information on a computer screen at their offices. Written parental consent is required prior to students participating in the program.
Azalea Health, a provider of cloud-based healthcare solutions and services, recently donated its electronic health record (EHR) software, services and training to rural K-12 school clinics in Coffee County, Georgia, where the GaHIN pilot is taking place at 12 schools.
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GaHIN Welcomes New Directors to Board
GaHIN has added new members to its Board of Directors, which provides governance and insight to the non-profit organization.
"We are delighted to welcome these leaders in Georgia's healthcare ecosystem to the GaHIN Board of Directors," said Dennis L. White, PhD, GaHIN's Chairman of the Board and CEO of Alliant/GMCF. "Each of these individuals brings deep healthcare expertise and represents a specific sector of healthcare. We sincerely appreciate their willingness to contribute their time and knowledge to our goal of increasing the secure exchange of electronic health information to help improve care delivery, efficiency and quality."
Joining the GaHIN Board are:
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