Health IT firm MedPlus will supply technology and services to help launch the Brooklyn Health Information Exchange.
The exchange, known as BHIX, is scheduled to become operational in July. MedPlus, the health care IT subsidiary of Quest Diagnostics, will provide consulting, project management, design and implementation services in support of its products.
Those products include MedPlus’ clinical portal, data exchange engine and document management and imaging system. MedPlus announced the BHIX contract January 11.
The MedPlus system will allow physicians and other healthcare workers to securely collect, manage and share patient information in real time from Internet-enabled locations across the BHIX’s 11 partner organizations, according to MedPlus.
BHIX, a not-for-profit corporation, counts Maimonides Medical Center and Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center among its initial partners.
MedPlus said BHIX’s portal will let authorized users view six data elements of a patient’s medical data: patient demographics; medication lists; allergies; advance directives; information on physicians treating the patient; and a medical problem list.
BHIX’s technology plan has qualified for funding under New York State’s Healthcare Efficiency and Affordability Law for New Yorkers (HEAL NY). The state awarded Maimonides a $4 million grant under the first phase of the HEAL NY program, according to the New York State Department of Health Web site.
The HEAL NY grant program targets health information technology and quality improvement infrastructure at the regional level.
BHIX hopes to fund the exchange’s expansion through a HEAL NY phase 5 grant, according to Irene Koch, BHIX's executive director. That expansion would include clinical decision support. The phase 5 grants could be awarded in March.
Richard Mahoney, president of MedPlus and health IT vice president at Quest Diagnostics, called health information exchanges such as BHIX and emerging market. He said HEAL NY has provided a catalyst in New York State, noting that hospitals have also contributed to interoperability initiatives.
From the battlefield to the home front: Managing medical data
Government Health IT presents Col. Claude Hines Jr., program manager for the Defense Health Information Management System, in this recent InSight eSeminar. Col. Hines discusses the health information technology and tactical challenges faced by the military medical community in Iraq, Afghanistan and other areas of conflict. In doing so, he describes the current information technology solutions for transferring clinical data between battlefield care givers to health care personnel at military treatment facilities worldwide.
