Community Radiology is a Leader in Electronic Information Sharing
Community Radiology Associates (a RadNet Partner) is pleased to announce that, as one of the first participants in the Chesapeake Regional Information System for our Patients (CRISP), we can now share data electronically with other healthcare providers that participate in Maryland’s statewide health information exchange (HIE).
HIE supports the private and secure flow of health information among physician practices, hospitals, labs, radiology centers, and other healthcare institutions. It supports delivering the right health information to the right place at the right time.
Community Radiology Associates was in the first group of participants to send data to CRISP. Steve Forthuber, Executive VP, COO East Region, RadNet, comments, “Community Radiology Associates and its sister practice, Advanced Radiology, are proud to be early participants in CRISP, providing data from the more than 1.3 million procedures we perform each year. We hope that the contribution of data and leadership by all the early participants will expedite the Governor’s objective for Maryland to be the national leader in health information technology. Our organization and IT resources are committed to assisting in this essential effort.”
CRISP recently announced that all 48 Maryland hospitals have committed to sharing data with the statewide HIE. This commitment covers 11,175 in-patient beds, from Garrett County to the Eastern Shore.
Other hospitals, physician practices, and clinics will be coming online before the end of the year, including many of the state’s federally qualified health clinics, which predominantly serve Medicaid, uninsured and other underserved patients. CRISP will also be expanding the kinds of data the HIE is able to exchange as participation grows, from today’s hospital discharge summaries, lab results and radiology results to medical documents that contain more complete medical information, sometimes referred to as continuity of care documents, or “CCDs.”
“Today’s announcement, while exciting evidence of the hard work of numerous stakeholders, is not an endpoint. Rather it’s the beginning of a process which will give physicians new and more effective tools to provide the best care to their patients,” said David Horrocks, President of CRISP.
This summer, Governor O’Malley joined Lt. Governor Anthony Brown to convene a roundtable forum of industry leaders and experts, including medical system presidents, hospital CEOs, state officials and other stakeholders to discuss health care reform and innovation in Maryland. The governor has set a goal for the state to become a national leader in health information technology by 2010 by developing a safe and secure statewide HIE and promoting the adoption of electronic medical records among providers. Maryland is well on its way to achieving that goal.
To learn more about CRISP and how it is enabling the adoption and meaningful use of health information technology in Maryland, please visit www.crisphealth.org.