Charleston Retirement community and St Agnes hospital to forge HIT link

Retirement communities and nursing homes are often left out of HIE (health information exchange discussions). This is a wonderful example of two institutions with two different HIT systems bridging the void. Bravo. SV

BALTIMORE, MD – A recent collaborative project between Erickson Retirement Communities and St. Agnes Hospital established instant patient data exchange between their respective Electronic Medical Records (EMR) systems, marking the first time in the United States that such as system has been developed between a hospital and a continuing care retirement provider. The health information exchange (HIE) system demonstrates the feasibility of efficient and secure healthcare data interchange while proving the value of technology in health settings.

The HIE allows residents from Charlestown Retirement Community, a campus developed and managed by Erickson, to be referred to St. Agnes Hospital for inpatient services as well as emergency care with their medical records electronically shared between the two institutions. The solution facilitates the exchange of information such as patient demographics, allergies, medications, discharge summaries and clinical summaries. It allows for both viewing as well as importing of standards-based clinical documents between the Meditech clinical information system at St. Agnes Hospital and the GE Centricity electronic medical system used by Erickson Health, the nation’s largest health and wellness system for older adults.

Erickson