Health Information Technology

An Update on HealthLINK

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All of us deal with the challenges and rewards of health information technology (HIT) and to understand HIT it helps to recognize its terminology: EMR, EMR , PHR, and HIE.

EMR - An Electronic Medical Record is the electronic documentation of the patient encounter with a hospital, physician practice, or other health care provider. 

EHR - An Electronic Health Record is the consolidation of patient electronic medical record data generated by one or more encounters in any care delivery setting.  The EHR includes additional information on patient demographics, provider notes, problem list, allergies, medications, vital signs, past medical history, immunizations, laboratory data, imaging, advance directives, and other relevant clinical information.

PHR - The Personal Health Record is an electronic, lifelong resource of health information generated by an individual (or authorized representative) that can be incorporated electronically into the EHR.  Individuals own and manage the information in the PHR, which comes both from healthcare providers, and the individual.

HIE - The Health Information Exchange provides a "hub", a repository, that connects all health information  maintained by separate health care providers and makes it available to clinicians involved in the care of an individual.  An HIE is a digital community that will allow clinicians to share information electronically about  patients. 

Danbury Health Systems' HIE will be called HealthLINK.   The goal for HealthLINK is to become a digital medical community allowing clinicians to share information electronically about  patients.   It will, when implemented, provide a true e-prescribe application, secure clinical messaging, ability to order labs and x-rays from any local facility.  HealthLINK will also provide for an “EMR light,” which is not a complete electronic medical record system, but can serve as a bridge to a full EMR.

We expect HealthLINK pilot projects to start in the next four to five months.