Highmark develops data-share network
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Within a few months, a specialist from the West Penn Allegheny Health System will be able to electronically share radiology test results with a primary care physician through a new health information exchange being developed by Highmark Inc. and Verizon, the two companies announced Monday.
The exchange -- a data and communications system that allows insurers, hospitals and patients to share patient data electronically -- is first being installed at WPAHS hospitals and, soon after, at Butler Health System, Jefferson Regional Medical Center, MedExpress Urgent Care, The Washington Hospital and others.
Within two years the system will be made available to physicians and hospitals across the state and in West Virginia, making it the first true statewide data exchange, the companies said.
Highmark's exchange, developed by Verizon's Enterprise Solutions unit, will contain the records of millions of patients (supposing they don't opt out of the data exchange) and, it's hoped, will produce more efficient, more effective care via better communication and fewer redundant tests.
Physicians will be able to more easily determine the date of and reason for a patient's most recent hospital stay; specialists will know if a CT scan has been done in the last few months at another institution and be able to rule out a duplicative one.
When it is implemented statewide, Highmark's system will be larger in scope -- and in the number of participating patients -- than existing "regional" health records exchanges, such as the local one being developed at Heritage Valley Health System with UPMC's participation (called "ClinicalConnect") or the one being used by the mid-state Geisinger Health System.
Highmark also said it might someday tie into those records systems, if the exchanges are up for it, creating a more universal data exchange instead of one segmented by provider and insurer.
Eventually, Highmark said, the system should be "self-sustaining," meaning clinics, physicians and participating hospitals will have to pay a fee in order to access it. The insurer wouldn't disclose those fee structures, nor would it reveal the cost of building the system during its Monday teleconference.
First Published February 21, 2012 12:00 am
