MEDSEEK Links Western North Carolina and Veterans Affairs
MEDSEEK Links Western North Carolina and Veterans Affairs
Birmingham, Alabama (PRWEB) August 18, 2011
MEDSEEK, the industry’s only provider of the optimal 360-degree online healthcare experience, today announced the successful connection of WNC Health Network’s health information exchange, called WNC Data Link, to the Veterans Administration’s Health Information Systems Technology Architecture (VistA). Data Link, established in 2006, connects 16 hospitals in Western North Carolina to the VA and is the first of its kind in the US. Utilizing MEDSEEK’s eConnect health information exchange technology, the hospitals in the federated model maintain separate HIE systems and pull data from members’ systems to present patient records wherever it is needed.
With the veteran’s affirmative consent, the project allows the member hospitals of the WNC Data Link to share health information with the VA and WNC Health Network hospitals, to ensure that physicians can access the most recent, accurate medical records for participating veterans.
“The connection between Data Link and the Veterans Administration is one of the first in the country and we are committed to providing the best care for our veterans and all WNC patients,” said Janice Lato, President and CEO of WNC Health Network. “Data Link, the VA and MEDSEEK have worked diligently to bring this groundbreaking program together.”
More than two hundred veterans have opted in to the live trials since the July 2011 launch and a further 9,000 veterans will be offered the opportunity to join later this year.
“MEDSEEK is excited about the connection of Data Link to the VA,” said Peter Kuhn, MEDSEEK CEO. “By providing accurate patient information wherever it is needed we can do our part to ensure that veterans and all patients are provided the best care experience regardless of which WNC hospital they choose for treatment.”
The member hospitals range in size from 25 to 740 beds and are spread across 15 western North Carolina cities and towns. The project was possible because of the hospitals’ longstanding collaborative relationships with each other. They have a long history of collaboration through group purchasing, quality and wellness initiatives, even though some hospitals compete with others for patients in nearby markets. The 16 independent hospitals jointly save $ 1.4 million annually by providing geographically dispersed clinicians with timely and comprehensive patient information.
ABOUT WNC Health Network
The WNC Health Network, established in 1995, is a collaboration of hospitals and other health care providers that support the delivery of cost-effective, quality health services to the Western North Carolina region. The Network’s members in WNC Data Link include Angel Medical Center, CarePartners Health Services, Cherokee Indian Hospital, Harris Regional Hospital, Haywood Regional Medical Center, Highlands-Cashiers Hospital, The McDowell Hospital, Mission Hospital, Murphy Medical Center, Pardee Hospital, Park Ridge Health, Rutherford Regional Medical Center, Blue Ridge Regional Hospital, St. Luke’s Hospital, Swain County Hospital and Transylvania Regional Hospital.
About MEDSEEK
Since 1996, MEDSEEK has focused exclusively on creating a 360-degree optimal eHealth experience for patients, clinicians and administrative staff by removing traditional integration and communication barriers, workflow roadblocks and redundant processes. Used by more than 1000 hospitals, MEDSEEK solutions enable hospitals to execute enterprise-wide strategic objectives by improving quality of care, uncovering new sources of revenue and generating meaningful loyalty among physicians and patients with a low-risk, high-return investment that leverages existing IT investments and infrastructure. For more information, visit http://www.medseek.com or call 1.888.MEDSEEK.
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