Spectrum Health Collaborates With Physician Offices to Share Electronic Health Information

Spectrum Health Connectivity Eliminates the Need for Faxing Test Results

Step by step the health care industry is transitioning to the electronic medical record (EMR). However, connectivity between hospitals and physician offices can be challenging because they often have different electronic systems or in many cases, no systems at all. Spectrum Health offers a solution that integrates clinical information with the EMR at physicians’ offices. In addition, if an office is still using paper charts, Spectrum Health has a bridge solution so they can start interacting electronically. More than 60 physician offices across eight counties now receive data electronically from Spectrum Health.

“Spectrum Health is dedicated to finding the most effective ways to connect the patient health information we have as a health care organization electronically with physicians and their offices,” said Patrick O’Hare, senior vice president and chief information officer, Spectrum Health. “We know providing this information electronically not only helps our physician community become more efficient, but more importantly, it improves patient care because the information can be accessed throughout a patient’s life.”

Using the eSHare Results solution, Spectrum Health is able to send real time laboratory, radiology and transcribed results directly to the physician’s EMR or to the office’s electronic “dropbox”. Traditionally, when a doctor’s office receives laboratory results from a hospital, the results come via a fax machine and are not added directly into the EMR resulting in significant costs in supplies such as paper and ink. More importantly, this does not allow for the advantages of the EMR-storing this information in a way that can be accessed over time by providers for patient care.

“Although physician practices desire this information electronically, the transition does not happen overnight,” O’Hare said. “Spectrum Health has spent a great deal of time on working with practice managers to develop the best way to deliver this information in a format that suits their needs. We have been able to do that with many practices in our area and we hope to work with more offices that want this connectivity.”

Spectrum Health also makes it possible for physician practices and other hospitals to submit electronic lab orders directly to the health system rather than asking patients to carry the order with them to the lab location. Other integrated solutions delivered with Spectrum Health’s eSHare Results and Lab Orders platform, developed in partnership with Medicity, include radiology orders, management and admission notifications.

Spectrum Health is a not-for-profit health system in West Michigan that offers a full continuum of care through the Spectrum Health Hospital Group, a collection of seven hospitals and more than 140 service sites; the Spectrum Health Medical Group, a multispecialty team of nearly 100 providers; and Priority Health, a health plan with nearly 500,000 members. Spectrum Health’s 14,000 employees, 1,500 medical staff members and 2,000 volunteers are committed to delivering the highest quality care to those in medical need.’ The organization provided $111.1 million in community benefit during its 2008 fiscal year. As a system, Spectrum Health has earned more than 100 awards during the past 10 years.