Florida Insurer Addresses Interoperability
April 23, 2013
Florida Blue, the Sunshine State’s largest insurer, has launched a project with data exchange platform Availity and ambulatory electronic health record vendor Greenway that will enable physicians to exchange clinical summaries with the health plan through their EHRs.
The initiative will make patient-specific clinical information accessible at the point of care, officials say, and should hopefully be another step for interoperable and coordinated care across Florida.
As part of the project, physicians using the Greenway PrimeSUITE EHR will see up to two years of patient care history sourced from Florida Blue, presented in the EHR workflow, via integration with Availity’s patient care encounter summaries. Having this information at hand will offer physicians a more holistic view of a patient’s medical history.
Physicians can also automate the exchange of important clinical data back to the health plan for quality improvement reporting, officials say. That two-way integration at the EHR level reduces phone, fax and paper exchanges between providers and health plans.
“Ensuring information flows seamlessly among all stakeholders, when and where it is needed most, is critically important in this changing environment,” said Russ Thomas, CEO of Availity.
“Together with Greenway, we are applying creative solutions to help physicians become more comfortable with clinical measures being used in new reform-driven care delivery models, and to help their patients become more aware of the positive effects of coordinated care,” he said.
Greg Schulenburg, Greenway’s chief operating officer, said the company’s strong presence in Florida meant it has “the trusted physician desktop access and technology infrastructure to integrate with cutting-edge applications like Availity’s.”
In 2012, Greenway Medical Technologies announced its early adoption of Availity’s expanded clinical documentation capabilities, and is showcasing this project as the first widespread example of how collaborative care can directly benefit physicians and patients, officials say. The project will continue throughout 2013.
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