Carefx Portal Solution to Deliver First-time, Statewide Access to Patient Data Among Hospitals in the LSU Network
Physicians and other medical professionals will be able to access
patient information across the 10 rural and metropolitan hospitals in
the
Louisiana State University
health system with the implementation of Fusionfx, an interoperable clinical workflow solution from
Carefx
Corporation.
Based at the LSU Health Sciences Center – Shreveport, the portal solution, which LSU
calls LSU HealthLink, will aggregate information from two separate data
centers and several different applications that support the LSU hospital network. The portal-based view of patient data streamlines the way LSU's
more than 1,200 physicians and 2,000 residents and fellows access,
interact with and share patient data, helping reduce errors, increase
productivity and improve patient care.
"The
ability to exchange data between clinicians and between hospitals is
extremely important for achieving meaningful use of patient
information," said Andrew Hurd,
Chairman and CEO of Carefx, a leading provider of interoperable
workflow solutions. "By closing the gaps among various information
systems and providing access to patient information through a single,
integrated portal, the care providers at LSU are able to offer a more consistent, higher quality patient experience."
LSU HealthLink, already fully implemented in the LSU Medical Center
emergency department, allows clinicians to access patient information
from the separate data repositories in the LSU Health System and brings
relevant data from Siemens LCR, Allscripts, LSU's CLIQ and others into a unified portal experience.
"Greater
access to patient data allows our physicians to obtain a complete
picture of a patient's medical history, therefore aiding them in their
medical decision-making and providing more time-effective care," said
Dr. Thomas Arnold, Director, LSU emergency department. "Implementing this portal in the LSU's emergency department has already been of great benefit to our providers and patients."
The LSU project with Carefx is an expansion of electronic health record (EHR) accessibility among Louisiana
hospitals that began with the Louisiana Rural Health Information
Exchange (LARHIX) in 2008. Using Fusionfx, LARHIX now provides
real-time electronic data exchange for the teleconsultation services
linking the 24 Northern Louisiana community providers with LSU Health Sciences Center in Shreveport.
"LSU HealthLink is most certainly an example of what could happen in the rest of the state," said Lee Bairnsfather, CIO of LSU Health Sciences Center. "As a state whose medical system has been greatly affected by natural disasters more than once, Louisiana
would benefit immensely from an interoperability platform, making
portable the data among the various electronic medical systems in the
state. Given Carefx's innovative and scalable technology, this is very
possible. The Carefx system will help us achieve meaningful use of our
patient data."
Moving
forward, officials believe that patient data in the LARHIX clinical
portal and LSU Healthlink will be integrated seamlessly into a
comprehensive internet accessible information exchange. This
integration will improve access to critical patient data for thousands
of clinicians as they serve a combined patient population of more than
one million Louisiana residents.