Issue link: https://viewer.e-digitaledition.com/i/976263
"PARTICIPATION IN A HE ALTH INFORMATION E XCHANGE can quickly impact patient safety and improve care coordination by allowing connected physicians, hospitals and other providers to share patient health records, including information from all providers and facilities from whom a patient has received care," says Laura McCrary, EdD, Executive Director of Kansas Health Information Network (KHIN). "Accessing a patient's secure data can enhance clinical decision-making, reduce treatment delays and help providers manage their patient's care in ways that have never been possible before." KHIN oers a secure, longitudinal web-based personal health record for patients to have access to much of the same informa- tion. MyKSHealtheRecords.com, the patient portal, eliminates the need for patients to log in to multiple portals to access their health records, hand-carry records to appointments or rely on another physician's o•ce to send information via fax. As a nonprofit network formed by the Kansas Medical Society and the Kansas Hospital Association, KHIN benefits not only patients but physicians, healthcare facilities and other healthcare professionals in the state. While KHIN consolidates patient point-of-care and health records information, it also provides a solution for physicians who must meet healthcare quality reporting requirements, McCrary notes. KHIN is now one of the most successful HIEs in the nation, with over 1,500 participating providers securely sharing data on over 5.5 million patients. "KHIN HIE participants receive both consultation and technical support to report quality measures," she says. KHIN's products and services also deliver the tools necessary to access patient information in a timely, secure manner; improve care coordination and patient safety; increase physician/patient communication; engage patients through a certified online patient portal; utilize patient panel and population health analytics in a meaningful way; and aid in the transition to value-based payment models. ■ KHIN Helps Improve Patient Safety With a Health Information Exchange Platform, 1 0❱❱❱❱❱ P A T I E N T S A F E T Y 1 0