Innovative HealthBridge analytics systems go West

A new healthcare analytics system developed by Blue Ash-based HealthBridge caught the attention of southwest Colorado doctors who are adopting it to better track treatment effectiveness.

HealthBridge will be working with Quality Health Network in Grand Junction, Colo., to improve electronic record sharing there. HealthBridge will also modify its program for measuring health outcomes in Greater Cincinnati for the Colorado doctors.

HealthBridge is one of the country's largest electronic health information exchange organizations, serving 80 to 90 percent of physicians and acute care hospitals in southwest Ohio, Northern Kentucky and southeast Indiana.

HealthBridge helps medical centers quickly and simply share information for 2.5 million patients in the region. More than 24 hospitals and 5,000 physicians use the company's health IT services in Greater Cincinnati, saving the region an estimated $20 million a year.

The nonprofit has taken the lead in the carrying out the goals of a federally funded Beacon Community Grant. Beacon Communities are charged with building and strengthening local health IT infrastructure and testing innovative approaches to make measurable improvements in quality, cost and population health. Cincinnati is one of 17 Beacon communities across the country.

"Both of our regions have aggressive goals for improving the quality of care, cost effectiveness and population health of our communities," says Trudi Mathews, HealthBridge director of policy and public relations.

In Cincinnati, Health Bridge has developed an IT-sharing program for participating doctors and healthcare providers to securely share information about their patients. This information helps determine if they're reaching certain program goals related to diabetes and pediatric asthma treatment.

This program will be modified to meet goals set by Quality Health Network. Quality Health Network is the first group outside of Cincinnati to adopt the HealthBridge analytics system, but HealthBridge officials believe more will follow.

"There are regions of the country that don't have a high level of connectivity for record sharing. To build and develop that capability takes a long time, but we are able to rapidly ramp up the timeframe for adopting that connection," Mathews says.

By Feoshia Henderson
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