Summit County Providers Join the CORHIO HIE

Summit Community Care Clinic is Implementing an EHR and HIE to Enhance Patient Care

The Summit Community Care Clinic is the newest member of CORHIO's health information exchange (HIE), a secure network linking physicians and other medical care providers throughout Colorado.

"Summit Community Care Clinic is an exciting addition to the CORHIO network of providers given their important standing in Summit County," said Mark Carlson, regional development & outreach manager at CORHIO.  "As with all of our growing number of participants, Summit Community Care Clinic understands that the ability to exchange electronic health information will substantially improve the quality of care for patients in Summit County and across Colorado, while reducing inefficiencies for providers."

Summit Community Care Clinic is a nonprofit "safety-net" clinic for uninsured, underinsured, and income-eligible workers and residents of Summit County. In 2011, Summit Community Care Clinic expects to provide over 12,500 office visits to over 4,500 under-served patients.

Integrated Care Requires Integrated Technology

"The health information exchange will be a tremendous asset to the integrative care model already in place at Summit Community Care Clinic," said Betty Sarber, IT coordinator of Summit Community Care Clinic. "Many of our patients are referred to specialists, so patient records are frequently passed between physicians. Our level of integration, supported by sophisticated information technology, means that the patient, along with the appropriate medical information, can move seamlessly and securely between providers."

The first step towards Summit Community Care Clinic's goal of successful data exchange is to implement an electronic health record (EHR) system. By working closely with the Colorado Regional Extension Center, Summit Community Care Clinic expects to implement an EHR in July.

"The HIE is a patient-centric network, which falls right in line with our mission of providing the best possible care for the members of our community," continued Sarber.  "Eventually, we'd love to capture the data that we can gather from the HIE to help address and solve health issues on a community level."