Montana’s New HIE Announces Initiative to Ensure More Complete Patient Records
Big Sky Care Connect Partners with Industry Leader DrFirst to Provide Clinicians with Patients’ Medication History
Helena, Montana –– Big Sky Care Connect (BSCC), Montana’s premier health information exchange (HIE), is partnering with DrFirst, a leading healthcare IT pioneer, to provide clinicians throughout Montana access to DrFirst’s extensive medication history information system.
Before the anticipated launch of BSCC in late 2020, Montana was just one of two states without a state-designated HIE. An HIE is a modern system for improving patient health by saving time and expediting patient care through sophisticated information technology. BSCC feeds data from healthcare providers across the state into a centralized digital network that serves as a real-time information system for participating providers, patients, and payors in Montana. Healthcare organizations of all types throughout the state can participate in the network.
Through BSCC’s partnership with DrFirst, healthcare providers in Montana can search BSCC for a patient they are treating to view a concise and comprehensive health record that will now include thorough medication history information. MedHx by DrFirst provides the broadest source of medication history data available in the industry, which allows faster, more accurate medication reconciliation. A critical patient safety process, medication reconciliation is a National Patient Safety Goal of The Joint Commission. This partnership fills a serious gap in the data compiled from other participating organizations.
“Montana has over a million residents, and our partnership with DrFirst means that healthcare providers can get the most all-inclusive medication history information for any patient in the state,” said Jean Branscum, acting CAO of BSCC. “Having this information will help identify and avoid adverse drug reactions, improve medication adherence, and prevent avoidable readmissions.”
Clinicians in Montana who are not already using DrFirst’s award-winning MedHx solution for comprehensive medication history will be able to access the BSSC portal to view patients’ medication data, including dose and duration. “Knowing what medications patients have been taking is crucial to delivering quality medical care,” explained DrFirst’s president, G. Cameron Deemer. “Yet patients are not always able to share this information because they may be in pain, unable to communicate or may not remember important details about their current medications.”
BSCC has recently finalized contracts from more than 25 healthcare organizations throughout Montana that will use the HIE to create better health outcomes for all Montanans.
About Big Sky Care Connect
Big Sky Care Connect is a 501 (c) 3 nonprofit created in 2018 to respond to the need for a state-wide coordinated health information exchange (HIE) and related services to enhance clinical care in communities throughout Montana. Big Sky Care Connect serves to facilitate timely and secure access to clinical information between various member healthcare organizations and engage in other activities to improve and promote the public health and quality of health care in Montana in a cost-effective manner. Big Sky Care Connect is governed by a board of directors made up of physicians and healthcare executives from around the state.
About DrFirst
Since 2000, DrFirst has pioneered healthcare technology solutions and consulting services that securely connect people at touchpoints of care to improve patient outcomes. We create unconventional solutions that solve care collaboration, medication management, price transparency, and adherence challenges faced in healthcare. We unite the Healthiverse—the interconnected healthcare universe—by providing our clients with real-time access to the information they need, exactly when and how they need it, so patients get the best care possible. DrFirst solutions are used by nearly 300,000 healthcare professionals, including more than 100,000 prescribers, nearly half of the EHRs in the U.S., and more than 1,400 hospitals in the U.S. and Canada.
Source : bigskycareconnect
