Central New York Health RHIO Chooses Mirth's HIE Solution

HealtheConnections, the Regional Health Information Organization (RHIO) for Central New York,  announced that it has successfully completed the migration to a new HIE system powered by Mirth.

HealtheConnections, the Regional Health Information Organization (RHIO) supporting the 1.4 million people in Central New York, today announced that it has successfully completed the migration of all regional health information and services to its new health information exchange (HIE) system powered by Mirth Corporation. With this migration, HealtheConnections, operating one of the nation's fastest-growing health information exchanges, increases capabilities and services that will deliver consolidated patient health information for improved patient care.

Sustainability = Valued Information + Valued Services

"To fulfill our long-term strategies and vision, HealtheConnections made the decision to move from an unsustainable infrastructure platform to Mirth's HIE solution to deliver the most value to our providers, participants and stakeholders," said Rob Hack, executive director of HealtheConnections. "Mirth's focus, commitment and flexible collaborative delivery process, supporting health information exchanges, was key to our successful migration."

Mirth Corporation and the HealtheConnections team collaborated with a well-defined implementation process and plan to configure the solution and complete the migration on time and on budget. Most importantly, Mirth was selected for, and had the responsibility for, facilitating the complex process of migrating data from the existing HealtheConnections HIE system to the Mirth HIE Solution.

"Health care providers need access to key patient health care information and tools to help them make informed decisions," noted Hack. "Our transition to the Mirth HIE solution increases the provider value proposition and will lead to increased productivity and efficiency. Mirth's HIE solution presents providers the information and services needed for improved and effective patient treatment and coordination."

With Mirth's and HealtheConnections' cooperative effort, 28 million patient health records for 1.2 million patients; 1 million patient consents; and 140 interfaces with 17 hospitals, 6 independent regional diagnostic centers, 18 radiology image repositories and 7 EMR integrations are now in place for health care professionals' access and use. Mirth will also be providing application and technical gateway services for public health, Veteran's Administration, results delivery, clinical document exchange (CCD) and secure messaging (Direct) capabilities.

From Legacy to State-of-the-Art

"We are delighted to be partners with HealtheConnections and to have enabled them to migrate from a legacy system to our state-of-the-art HIE infrastructure," stated Jon Teichrow, president of Mirth Corporation. "As a global leader in health care IT, we understand the importance of being able to design and deliver a scalable, flexible system that is optimized to meet the demands of a rapidly evolving health care environment. Providing connectivity with an open migration path for HIE needs is critical in the world of health care."

With its previous HIE legacy system, HealtheConnections was limited in its abilities to deliver timely and flexible information and services at the pace needed for its participants. Equally limiting were the roadblocks in the communication, integration and information exchange among existing provider systems within HealtheConnections' regional communities.

"We truly believe in our partnership with Mirth," noted Hack. "In a six-month period of time, we migrated all information, interfaces and services from our three years of HIE operation to Mirth's solution. This effort strategically sets the stage for increased functionality, capabilities and services that will deliver information for improved patient care and opportunities for increased health care delivery efficiencies."

About HealtheConnections

HealtheConnections (pronounced "healthy-connections") is the Regional Health Information Organization (RHIO) of Central New York that is responsible for overseeing the secure, electronic health information exchange that gives authorized, participating medical providers access to complete patient medical histories and information in real time. HealtheConnections brings together employers, hospitals, physicians, insurers and consumers to advance regional high-quality health care, access and safety while maintaining or decreasing costs. HealtheConnections serves the 1.4 million populations of 11 counties in the 60-plus-mile radius from Syracuse, New York: Cayuga, Cortland, Herkimer, Jefferson, Lewis, Madison, Oneida, Onondaga, Oswego, St. Lawrence and Tompkins counties. For more information, visit http://www.healtheconnections.org.

About Mirth Corporation

Headquartered in Costa Mesa, California, Mirth Corporation is a global leader in health information technology. The company recently was recognized by the Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE) and the Health Story Project as one of the nation's first vendors to successfully meet the Health Level Seven (HL7) Consolidated-CDA® (C-CDA) standard. These tests are a key component to achieving Meaningful Use 2 certification, a phased-in government mandate designed to improve health care quality, safety and efficiency through the promotion of health IT, including Electronic Health Records and private and secure electronic Health Information Exchange.

In 2012, Mirth was recognized as one of the top vendors in HIE Client Satisfaction according to the market research firm Black Book. The Black Book Healthcare Information Rankings is one of the nation's top measurements of technology and services in the health care industry.

The Mirth team is passionate about transforming the health care industry with their commercial and open source software and systems. Mirth technology is used daily by thousands of health professionals and institutions worldwide to streamline care management processes and to securely exchange health information across enterprises, communities and broad geographies. For more information, visit http://www.mirthcorp.com