Miscommunication
is blamed for thousands of deaths and billions of dollars in costs. One
part of miscommunication involves providers not being able to access records
for patients they are treating. Numerous state groups working to reform CT’s
broken health care system over the last decade have urged policymakers to
develop a Health Information Exchange (HIE) to help with that problem. But
despite several attempts costing millions of dollars, the
state has failed for a variety of reasons. The CT State Medicaid Society
has decided not to wait for the state and is building their own HIE – CT Health
Link. CSMS is investing hundreds of thousands of dollars to have Kansas customize
their successful HIE for our state’s needs. Kansas’s HIE launched in 2012 and
now includes all hospitals and three out of four physician practices in the
network. CT Health Link gives providers tools to share information, making care
coordination far more effective, but the tool goes much further as well.
Patients will be able to see all their information with opportunities to
opt-out or in, correct errors and better understand their care. CT Health Link
will enable public health reporting for providers, a significant administrative
burden. The tool also includes an analytics dashboard that focuses on high-risk
patients, disease registry, preventive care, readmissions, and population
health that will be invaluable in improving quality and effectiveness of care. It
is disappointing that CT Health Link has decided to, by
default, include all patients’ information without first getting permission.
They do make it easy to opt-out and have committed to a robust patient
education process.
