The Statewide Health Information Network of New York (SHIN-NY) announced a partnership with New York City's Interboro Regional Health Information Organization (RHIO).
This alliance is the next step in unifying New York State's existing regional health records exchanges into a statewide network, the group said. The SHIN-NY will improve healthcare and reduce costs by making health records securely accessible by providers treating a patient anywhere in the state. The SHIN-NY is run by the New York eHealth Collaborative (NYeC).
Interboro RHIO's health records exchange is broad, and includes hospitals, trauma centers, long-term care facilities, diagnostic centers, and private practices. Interboro's participants include the NYC Health and Hospitals Corp. (NYCHHC) and its founding members include several HHC entities (Elmhurst Hospital Center, HHC Health & Home Care, MetroPlus, Queens Hospital Center, Woodhull Medical and Mental Health Center) along with New York Hospital Queens and Visiting Nurse Services of New York.
'We are excited about the opportunity to enable information sharing across a broader base of providers and further our goal of using health information exchange to improve quality, patient safety and efficiency,' said Chris Constantino, Executive Director of Elmhurst Hospital Center and Chairman of the Interboro Board.
'The health information exchange goals of the Interboro RHIO and NYeC are well aligned with HHC's goals of building robust care management/care coordination capabilities across care settings both within the NYCHHC network and with external partners,' said Alan Aviles, President and Chief Executive Officer of the NYCHHC.
In June, the SHIN-NY announced its first partnerships with three RHIOs in the New York City metropolitan area: BHIX (Brooklyn Health Information Exchange), eHealth Network of Long Island, and THINC (Taconic Health Information Network and Community), which serves the Hudson Valley Region. Once the SHIN-NY is able to connect the exchanges in the 'downstate' region (New York City, Long Island, and the Hudson Valley) it will have coordinated a network ready to serve that region's 13 million residents.
'Interboro RHIO is a strong partner and has already made great strides towards advancing health IT in New York,' explained David Whitlinger, Executive Director of NYeC. 'The goal is simply better healthcare through technology. We all have stories about a loved one with a serious disease struggling to keep their test results, treatment plans, and records straight as they travel from hospital to specialist to family doctor and so on. Technology solves that problem. Providers can spend more time with the right information at their fingertips, which means more time working directly with their patients.'
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