Connection with KHIE will allow health information to be shared statewide, nationally

Owensboro Medical Health System has completed a significant milestone to connect its clinics and hospital with healthcare providers across the state and nation utilizing electronic medical records.

On June 8, OMHS signed an agreement with the Kentucky Health Information Exchange (KHIE, pronounced kay-hi), an organization providing common, secure electronic information infrastructure for healthcare provider providers utilizing certified electronic health record technology.

For more than 20 OMHS clinics and the hospital, the KHIE connectivity launches the next step in the comprehensive management of health information. For OMHS, the process will begin with an immunization registry. The portal will expand to allow healthcare providers—such as labs, hospitals and physician practices—to access a patient’s consolidated healthcare history, including tests and diagnoses.

“Connecting with KHIE means that valuable health information will be available when and where it is needed by healthcare providers,” said Shanda Bland, director for OneChart, electronic medical record solution OMHS is making available to area physician practices. “Having healthcare information more readily accessible will improve coordination of care, too.”

“KHIE offers us a unique opportunity to change the face of health care for our patients,” Bland said. “Having timely access to and retrieval of a patient’s medical history enables doctors to make more informed clinical decisions that will lead to improved patient health outcomes.”

The core components of KHIE include: a master patient/person index; record locator service; security; provider/user authentication; logging and audits; and clinical messages and alerts. The system supports e-prescribing, patient demographics, lab order entry and results, radiology and transcription reports, past medical diagnoses, dates of services and hospital stays. It also offers the capability to communicate reportable diseases and provides for access to the statewide immunization registry.