Community HealthLink Care: Regional EMR

Project Details -
Completed

The Primary Care Coalition (PCC) of Montgomery County Maryland received a planning grant to develop a regional consortium, the Health Information Exchange (HIE), to improve the health care quality and patient safety of indigent, uninsured patients. PCC built upon a network of community safety net clinics in Montgomery County that share information using a database called CHLCare. During the planning year, the HIE was to expand infrastructure in the DC Metropolitan Area for health information sharing among a partnership of clinics and hospitals and to develop an implementation proposal. The planning grant evaluation utilized a descriptive case study to assess the success of PCC and HIE partner agencies to strengthen the infrastructure and design a plan for sharing electronic medical records using health information technology among organizations. The evaluation focused on key questions related to the study objectives including the extent to which the HIE identified and addressed challenges to data sharing, fostered collaboration and support, and developed a feasible implementation plan. By the end of the planning year, the HIE partnership had met the infrastructure objectives by identifying legal, technical, operational, safety, and quality requirements for data sharing. PCC was able to foster collaboration through letters of support, Memoranda of Understanding, as well as pledges of matching funds from potential partners. PCC has successfully applied for and received funds from AHRQ for a three-year implementation project.