Background on RHIO's
RHIO’s are regional health information organizations designed to improve the safety, quality and efficiency of health care. RHIO’s are the proposed building blocks of a national health information network (NHIN) originally proposed by David Brailer MD and his team at the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONCHIT). The terms RHIO and health information exchange (HIE) are often used interchangeably. The concept requires extensive collaboration by a diverse set of stakeholders.
About the Rochester RHIO
The Rochester RHIO is a regional health information exchange that equips health care providers with certain essential information that can help more effectively treat a patient – including lab reports, radiology results, medication history and insurance eligibility.
It is being created by a community collaboration involving health care providers, payers, hospitals, public health organizations and businesses.
Area served
Rochester RHIO will provide a single, secure resource for finding essential information on patients who visit providers anywhere in the nine-county Rochester area - Genesee, Livingston, Monroe, Ontario, Orleans, Seneca, Wayne, Wyoming and Yates Counties.
How it works
A web-based query tool, called the Virtual Health Record (VHR) makes the exchange available to participating health care providers. All they need is Internet access and the appropriate authorization. This tool allows them to search by patient name or other identifiers to obtain lab and radiology results, medication history and high-level insurance eligibility information. Other information such as allergies and hospital discharge files will be added over time.
Additional web based tools are available to add electronic prescribing, clinical messaging, and “EMR lite” functionality. This provides physicians a practical and incremental approach toward automated record-keeping. The RHIO architecture also supports integration with third-party EMR software. The RHIO’s clinical messaging routes test results automatically to ordering physicians. This can save hospitals and radiology practices time and money in results distribution, and eliminates the need to develop different interfaces to communicate with different practices.
Who provides data
As of June 1, 2007, the following organizations provide electronic data to the Rochester RHIO – ACM Labs, Excellus BlueCross BlueShield, Preferred Care, Unity Health System and Strong Memorial Hospital. Additional data providers will be added incrementally.
How is the Rochester RHIO different from GRIPA Connects?
The Rochester RHIO provides access to a health information exchange for physicians, hospitals, labs and radiology practices throughout a nine-county service area.
GRIPA Connects is a project focused on clinical integration for providers within the Greater Rochester Independent Providers Association.
Provider training
Providers can use the web-based query tool, called the VHR, by completing a brief online tutorial.
For additional functionality such as clinical messaging, e-prescribing and “EMR lite,” Rochester RHIO will provide in-person training in conjunction with Rochester Individual Practice Association.
Cost
There will be no charge for RHIO services for pilot phase participants. As the RHIO rolls out, the web query tool will be free of charge; there will be a modest monthly support fee for the eprescribing, clinical messaging and EMR lite functionality.
Do I need an EMR to participate?
No, various levels of participation are available. Options include using the VHR, the virtual health record that offers a community viewer of patient–centric information, or electing the Rochester RHIO’s eME product which includes “EMR-lite” software.
If I have an EMR, can the data go directly into my patient record?
With the appropriate technology, your vendor can build in the integration to allow results to flow into your clinical in-box.
Will I have access to local formularies?
Local health plans will provide and update demographic and eligibility information. By 2008, the Rochester RHIO’s ePrescribing function will be linked to the area’s most common formularies.
Roll-out timeline
The Rochester RHIO will be working with pilot users in Summer of 2007, with full scale roll-outs starting in the Fall of 2007. After pilot participants are fully onboard and operational, other participants will be added incrementally. In 2008, the RHIO anticipates that all health providers across our nine-county region will be able to use the exchange.
How patients are informed
Participating providers will receive a patient question and answer document, a supply of tri-fold brochures containing key facts, contact information, and other pertinent information. RHIO also provides a staffed patient answer line. Our public website contains contact information, FAQs and other resources for patients.
Rochester RHIO will conduct a public information campaign to inform patients about the RHIO as it becomes fully operational. During the pilot phase the RHIO will be offering services to physician practices to assist them in communicating with their patients about the RHIO.
How is patient privacy protected
The exchange is not a new database of patient information, but a tool that enables communication between providers. Supported by one of the nation’s most experienced regional health information exchange software vendor, Axolotl, the RHIO exchange is protected by advanced information safeguards.
A panel comprised of HIPAA compliance officers from hospitals in the nine-county region provides oversight to assure that patient privacy is paramount.