July 03, 2008

Rochester RHIO, our community's regional health information organization, is up and running with an extended pilot. The original participants - 26 physicians from five different practices - are continuing to test the RHIO's full "virtual health record" (VHR) capability, viewing insurance eligibility, test results, medication history and other patient information electronically. The VHR pilot is also being expanded to additional specialist practices, nursing homes, and home healthcare settings.

Many more physicians are using the exchange today to receive electronic test results and for e-prescribing. Any physician with a computer and internet access can receive lab results electronically, within a week of signing up for the exchange.

Organizations providing data to the RHIO exchange today include ACM Medical Laboratories, Elizabeth Wende Breast Clinic, Excellus BlueCross BlueShield, Preferred Care, Unity Health System and University of Rochester Medical Center.  Many others will be added in the coming months, including Clifton Springs Hospital, Lakeside Hospital, Nicholas H. Noyes Memorial Hospital, Thompson Health, United Memorial Medical Center, and ViaHealth.

The state health department recently gave Rochester RHIO two of the largest grants in the state to expand services, under the Health Efficiency and Affordability Law of New York.

•$6.7 million will help 75 independent practices to purchase EMR hardware and software, with implementation support from Monroe County Medical Society. Physicians interested in EMR adoption through the MCMS EMR Service Bureau may contact Nancy Adams at 585-473-4072.

•$6.1 million to improve continuity of care by expanding RHIO access to EMS providers, emergency departments, and long term care facilities. RHIO will also use this grant to provide direct links to Medicaid patient information, and to develop a portal that will allow patients to view their records online.

Deployment will continue and a public advertising campaign are expected to begin in the fall. Rochester RHIO will provide all participating offices materials to educate office staff and support their efforts to manage the patient consent process.

Specific information regarding costs, technology, the consent process, security and more can be found at http://www.grrhio.org/pat_providers.shtml. Physicians interested in joining Rochester RHIO may call Jessica Hasler at 877-865-RHIO (7446). For more information, visit www.grrhio.org

December 20, 2007

Community practice guidelines can now be viewed and downloaded at the Monroe County Medical Society website. Guidelines were developed as part of the Rochester Community-Wide Clinical Guidelines Initiative, an initiative currently facilitated by the Monroe County Medical Society with representation from Aetna, Excellus BlueCross BlueShield, GRIPA, Kodak, The Monroe County Health Department, The Monroe County Medical Society, The Monroe Plan for Medical Care, Preferred Care, RIPA, Thompsonhealth, University of Rochester Medical Center/Strong Health, Unity Health System and ViaHealth.

To view and download the guidelines, visit the Medical Society's website guidelines area at http://cwcg.mcms.org