Colorado RHIO Up and Running in Eight Months

In eight months, Quality Health Network (QHN) completed its formation, legal processes, addressed privacy and security issues, technology deployment, and began information exchange between providers. "Our goal is to optimize the community's health, eliminate redundancies, improve efficiencies and improve the satisfaction of patients and providers in western Colorado," said Dick Thompson, executive director of QHN. "Our local hospitals, health plan, and physician groups collaborated to bring this endeavor to fruition."

The nonprofit organization's network infrastructure and software, includes an electronic medical record for physicians, a secure community-wide data repository, electronic lab ordering, electronic prescribing, and disease registry databases to facilitate the identification and treatment of "at-risk" patients.

"The system is outstanding. It's like magic," stated Ivan Alkes, MD, an independent physician. "The newly deployed collaborative network provides instant access to patient test results with tools to manage and share that data."

"It appears at this point that Congress has stimulated the formation of HIEs or RHIOs," Thompson explained. "The problem we see is the critical step of sustaining the RHIOS. They are low cost but they aren't free. Given that HHS through CMS accounts for 50 percent of healthcare expenditure. I don't think Congress has figured out how CMS is going to help RHIOs. There's evidence that we are improving costs and efficiencies. So the expense of our organization shouldn't be borne by only non-governmental entities."

QHN is a nonprofit organization founded and funded by local healthcare groups to improve care through shared technology. Founders include Hilltop Health Resources, St. Mary's Hospital, Community Hospital, Rocky Mountain Health Plans, and the Mesa County Physicians' Independent Practice Association. QHN began its operations in Mesa County, which spans 3,328 square miles and has expanded services to include the entire Western Colorado area, which encompasses a 40,000 square mile area.