Connecting to Healthier – Literally
In August 2015, two years of designing, building, testing, training and validation culminated in the launch of the Epic Electronic Health Record at 23 Hartford HealthCare Medical Group (HHC MG) primary care offices.
CareConnect is a project that will eventually connect all HHC technology platforms, giving providers access to a single medical record no matter where patients seek care.
This is more than a software installation. It is a giant step toward achieving Hartford HealthCare’s vision to be “nationally respected for excellence in patient care and most trusted for personalized, coordinated care.’’ The next major step is planned for the spring of 2016, when MidState Medical Center, Windham Hospital and Hartford HealthCare Medical Group’s ambulatory specialists will adopt Epic. Hartford Hospital will adopt the system in August of 2016.
The Epic platform will make the transfer of health information more efficient to provide seamless care coordination, while ensuring that privacy is protected with extensive encryption.
MyChartPlus
The system also features an interactive patient portal, called MyChartPlus that will allow patients to:
- View medical record information, including health summary, test results, medical history and more
- Request appointments
- Complete health- and visit-related questionnaires
- Request non-urgent medical advice and medication refills
- Pay bills and review balances
- Access accounts for parents, spouses and caregivers (with appropriate authorization)
Care Everywhere
And the opportunity for care coordination will not stop at Hartford HealthCare’s walls.
Recently, Hartford HealthCare announced a special collaboration with Connecticut Children’s Medical Center, Saint Francis Care and Yale New Haven Health System, which also use Epic, to securely share electronic health records for participating patients.
Spearheaded by Hartford HealthCare, the initiative allows authorized clinicians from hospital systems using Epic software to share medical records including physician progress notes, lab reports and operative notes, with patient permission.
“We looked at other systems using Epic as an asset to serving the state because we knew the functionality was there, and with all of us on the same platform using the same built-in health information exchange that Epic provides, there would be full interoperability for patients who move around to various providers,” said Dr. Rocco Orlando, HHC senior vice president and chief medical officer for Hartford HealthCare, “This is really about our vision at Hartford HealthCare to provide one registration, one health record, one standard of excellence, one bill and one relationship for every patient.”
To improve communication with and among private medical practices that are not affiliated with HHC, this project also includes a component called “Community Connect,’’ which offers subsidies of up to 80 percent to practices that adopt the Epic ambulatory electronic health record.