May 2, 2008
Government Health IT
"Rochester RHIO Eyes Opening Full-service Umbrella"
By John Moore
A regional health information organization in Rochester, N.Y., plans to expand its
outreach and help area physicians adopt electronic medical record systems.
Rochester RHIO was recently awarded two state grants that support those aims. The grants,
totaling $12.7 million, came through HEAL NY, the Health Care Efficiency and Affordability
Law for New Yorkers grant program. In March, the state made grants worth $105 million to
19 community-based health information technology projects. Rochester RHIO is one of three
organizations that received two grants.
The RHIO mainly focuses on exchange of clinical information among hospitals, radiology
groups, laboratories and community physicians. But the state funding will help the organization
“start moving out from a hospital-to-physician model to consider the whole…umbrella
of care that goes on for a patient,” said Ted Kremer, executive director at Rochester RHIO.
The RHIO plans to bring into the exchange constituencies such as elder services, home care
and long-term care facilities in addition to emergency medical services. Kremer also pointed
to patient-based connectivity as part of the expansion. Patients using the exchange will be
able to manage their consents and connect to employer- or hospital-supplied personal health
records, he added.
Axolotl is the exchange’s technology vendor. The San Jose, Calif., company, which
automates health information exchanges, announced the deal in January 2007. Among other
products and services, Axolotl supplies a master index of the RHIO’s 1.2 million
patients in the nine-county greater Rochester area.
HEAL NY funding will also support the adoption of electronic medical record systems.
The RHIO, working in conjunction with the Monroe County Medical Society, will help physician
practices evaluate, select and adopt systems.
Kremer said the RHIO lets physicians choose their own electronic medical record systems,
but the systems must be approved by the Certification Commission for Health IT and be able to
connect to the exchange.
A $600,000 grant from the Greater Rochester Health Foundation also contributed to the
electronic medical record adoption program.
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