MDNews - Mid Hudson

COVER FEATURE LIPIX–Enhancing Efficiency and Patient Care Through INTERCONNECTIVITY THE LONG ISLAND PATIENT INFORMATION EXCHANGE (LIPIX) WAS DEVELOPED AS THE REGIONAL HEALTHCARE INFORMATION ORGANIZATION (RHIO) OF LONG ISLAND. THROUGHOUT THE LAST FOUR YEARS, LIPIX HAS IMPLEMENTED SERVICES DESIGNED TO CONTINUE ITS MISSION OF IMPROVING THE QUALITY AND EFFICIENCY OF REGIONAL HEALTH CARE. Phase 1 New York State grant. Since its inception, LIPIX has not only achieved its goal of facilitating interconnectivity, but it also offers a variety of services that physicians can utilize in daily practice to more easily access patient information and communicate important details with other physicians. “During the last four years, we have implemented the S technical infrastructure and policy framework to support a sustainable RHIO,” says Adam Becker, Vice President of Sales, Marketing and Outreach for LIPIX. “We are still continuing that effort. In addition to our core services that are designed to enhance interconnectivity and provide physicians with access to knowledge, we have also created add-on, value-based services that are layered upon the infrastructure we have built.” The Value of Interconnectivity As health care continues to evolve, physicians have been expected to transition their patients’ health records to a digital system through the use of electronic health records (EHRs). While this system allows information to be more easily viewed, physicians must connect their EHRs to other systems to receive the most benefit. “Recently, there has been a big push in the federal government to automate health care with the hopes of improving both the quality and efficiency of care,” says Ben Stein, M.D., President and CEO of LIPIX. “Most of that push has been focused on the implementation of EHRs; however, EHRs by themselves provide relatively little value. If a physician’s system is not interoperable and not integrated into the bigger picture, significant quality and efficiency benefits will not be realized.” 6 | Mid Hudson MD NEWS  MDNEWS.COM TARTED WITH THE purpose of facilitating health information exchange and connecting area hospitals and physicians, LIPIX was initially funded through the Health Care Efficiency and Affordability Law (HEAL) Physicians are able to keep all of their patients’ care providers up to speed with timely and accurate information by utilizing the LIPIX system. There are many emerging examples of clinical systems integra- tion within health care, including e-prescribing, the ability to order laboratory tests online, and the electronic transmission of referrals. The term “health information exchange” encompasses all of these and more, says Mark Greaker, Vice President of Infrastructure and Operations at LIPIX. “Previously, hospitals had to build expensive and proprietary point-to-point interfaces in order to share clinical information between information systems,” Greaker says. “Health informa- tion exchange represents the next generation of health care. Via a ‘hub and spoke,’ or networked, model, it allows care-providing organizations (CPOs) to more cost effectively provide clinicians with necessary information at their fingertips.” “Recently, a lot of discussion has centered around turning information into knowledge,” says Becker. “The more knowledge we can make available to providers, the better. By participating in health information exchange, physicians make faster and more informed decisions. More specifically, health information exchange can improve care by reducing unnecessary admissions, medical errors and duplicate testing. Overall, a RHIO helps reduce health care costs, enhance care and save time for both clinicians and patients.”

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