Doctors Group Links Electronically

A group of more than 450 area physicians has signed on to participate in a regionwide health information exchange.

UBMD, an emerging organization representing physicians and practitioners affiliated with more than a dozen University at Buffalo medical practices, will participate in HEALTHeLINK™, Western New York’s Clinical Exchange (WYNCIE).

The program offers an electronic network of data that links information from multiple sources, giving physicians access to laboratory results, prescription drug history and other transcribed reports. It also helps enable e-prescribing.

In a prepared release, David Dunn, president and CEO of UBMD and vice president for health sciences at UB, said the agreement will help move ahead the region’s health-care delivery system.

“HealtheLink is at the forefront not only in New York state but nationally in creating a truly functional regional health information exchange network,” he said. “We are very excited to be part of this historic collaboration among hospital systems and health plans.”

According to HEALTHeLINK™, a national health information exchange system has the potential to reduce the cost of health care by billions of dollars annually, helping mitigate annual increases in health insurance premiums and reducing medical malpractice costs for physicians.

HealtheLink seeks those same outcomes on a regional level, creating a network among the provider community, including physician offices, diagnostic testing facilities, hospitals and health insurance plans to better serve health care consumers.

Two dozen practitioners tested the system during a pilot phase over the past year. The system officially launches next week, though new physicians have begun registering and using the system in early January.

WNYCIE received a two-year grant of $5.3 million last April from the State Department of health to expand the HealtheLink program. The grant was awarded from the $1 billion fund created in 2004 by the Health Care Efficiency and Affordability Law for New Yorkers. The organization previously received a $3.5 million grant through HEAL NY to get the program off the ground.

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