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HEALTHeLINK™ to Drive Physician Adoption of Electronic Medical Records

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 26, 2009
Contacts:
Earl Wells/Laura Jacobs
e3communications
716-854-8182

Western New York Health Plans (WNYHP) Enlists HEALTHeLINK™ to Help Achieve Goal of 500 Physicians by 2012

BUFFALO, NEW YORK - HEALTHeLINK™, the Western New York clinical information exchange, will lead a new initiative on behalf of Western New York Health Plans (WNYHP) designed to increase the adoption of electronic medical records (EMRs) among area physicians. WNYHP, which is comprised of BlueCross BlueShield of Western New York, Independent Health and Univera Healthcare has hired HEALTHeLINK™ to implement the program that seeks to add 500 physicians over the next three years to the ranks of those who use EMRs.

"We believe our agreement with HEALTHeLINK™, coupled with the recently passed federal stimulus package that will provide physicians reimbursement for adopting electronic medical records, will help ease this technological transition for the physician community," said Cheryl A. Howe, executive vice president, BlueCross BlueShield of WNY.

"We anticipate there will be significant benefits from increasing the automation of patient medical records, including improvements in the quality and affordability of care through better care coordination and adoption of evidenced based medicine practices," said Carol M. Cassell, executive vice president, Independent Health.

"Critical to the success of this initiative is continued collaboration between health plans, the provider community and the Western New York clinical exchange," Art Wingerter, President, Univera Healthcare said.  "We are very confident that through the expertise of HEALTHeLINK™ we will achieve this targeted level of physician participation."

The goal is to recruit 500 physicians and mid level clinicians with an emphasis on primary care physicians, Medicaid providers and eventually specialists over the next 36 months.  HEALTHeLINK™ will be responsible of overseeing the functional requirements of the software vendor package, including ensuring that the data supports value-based outcome processes; and, that it has the ability to support an interface with Personal Health Records as well as ability to support e-prescribing allocations.

"This initiative by the region's health plan is another example of the unprecedented collaboration taking place to enhance healthcare for our community," Daniel E. Porreca, executive director, HEALTHeLINK™ said.  "We look forward to managing and executing this program on behalf of the health plans and in turn working with the physician community to make the transition to electronic health records as seamlessly as possible."

About HEALTHeLINK™

HEALTHeLINK™, the Western New York clinical information exchange, is a collaborative effort among various organizations to share clinical information in efficient and meaningful ways to improve the delivery of care, enhance clinical outcomes, and help control healthcare costs throughout the region. The not-for-profit organization and was established through funding from The Catholic Health System, Erie County Medical Center Corporation, BlueCross BlueShield of Western New York, Independent Health Association, Kaleida Health, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Univera Healthcare and a $3.5 million HEAL 1 grant from New York State. HEALTHeLINK™ stakeholders also include a broad representation of healthcare professionals and organizations throughout the eight-county Western New York region such as the Buffalo Academy of Medicine (BAM), Erie County Department of Health (ECDOH), State University of New York at Buffalo and the WNY R-AHEC (Rural Area Health Education Center).