It took nearly eight years, but the nonprofit that is building New Mexico’s health information exchange — a giant, statewide electronic health record — is finally selling its product and making money.
LCF Research will unveil contracts with two New Mexico hospitals in November, and it has reached agreements with the four insurers that will be part of the state’s Medicaid program to use the massive electronic health record, said LCF Interim CEO Bob Mayer.
“We are in the black now and we will be more and more on solid financial footing as we go forward,” Mayer said. “Our federal grant runs out in January and we will be sustainable on Jan. 1.”
Albuquerque Business First reported in August 2012 on the huge hurdles LCF Research faced in persuading partners to pay to use the system.
The electronic health record has information on 1.3 million patients from the various providers and insurers in the state. It’s important to health care in New Mexico because the electronic health records that the different hospital systems and physician groups use are made by different companies and can’t communicate with each other, Mayer said. LCF’s system takes records from those different systems and translates them to a standard form that providers can use.
In November, LCF will announce contracts with Sierra Vista Hospital in Truth or Consequences and Gila Regional Medical Center in Silver City, Mayer said. It also hopes to announce an agreement soon with San Juan Regional Medical Center in Farmington, he said.
The firm already has agreements with ABQ Health Partners, Holy Cross Hospital in Taos and CHRISTUS St. Vincent Hospital in Santa Fe, Mayer said, adding that the firm has signed agreements with 20 providers throughout the state. source
