Indiana and Ohio Health Information Exchanges Connect for Nation`s First Live, Multi-Region Clinical Information Exchange

Live exchange will allow secure electronic exchange of health information,
reduce duplication, improve efficiency, improve patient care and further the
nation`s goal to interconnect healthcare
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. & CINCINNATI & INDIANAPOLIS--(Business Wire)--
The day when your medical information follows you electronically wherever you go
just came one day closer to reality.

Three Indiana and Ohio organizations today started securely sending clinical
test results, reports and other medical information among their health
information exchanges (HIEs), a first in the U.S. These HIEs - HealthBridge in
Cincinnati, Ohio, Indiana Health Information Exchange (IHIE) in Indianapolis,
Indiana and HealthLINC in Bloomington, Indiana - have each been innovators and
pioneers in a national trend to enable medical information to flow
electronically between doctors and hospitals.

These organizations have been exchanging health information securely within
their regions for years. But, now they facilitate exchange among their regions
as well, using clinical information standards to enable the transfer of data.

For example, if a baby goes to a hospital in Indianapolis, doctors at her
pediatrician`s office in Bloomington can now access her current medical
information, including test results and radiology notes - so the information
follows the patient.

"This connectivity among communities will undoubtedly mean fewer repeated tests
and better care coordination between rural and urban providers," stated J. Marc
Overhage, MD, PhD, CEO of IHIE. "If a patient has a provider in a different
community, as long as they are part of one of the three HIE networks, their care
teams will now have more complete medical information available to them much
more quickly, enabling more efficient care and better health outcomes."

These health information organizations represent some of the largest and most
successful health information networks in the nation, connecting more than
15,000 physicians, 50 hospitals and 12 million patient records. The secure
health information networks provide faster, more accurate delivery of
information in the doctor`s office, fewer repeated tests, faster follow-up care,
better health outcomes and lower health care costs.

"We know we can improve patient care by seamlessly and securely exchanging
health information because we have been doing it in our own regions for years,"
said Robert Steffel, CEO of HealthBridge. "This connectivity helps pave the way
for more doctors and patients to have the critical information necessary for
high quality care regardless of where a patient lives."

Linking all three HIEs was months in the making. In this first phase, the
Indiana Health Information Exchange will be sending information to HealthLINC
and HealthBridge providers. Full interconnectivity, meaning that clinical
information will flow in both directions among all HIEs, will be implemented by
mid-September.

In 2007, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services` Office of the
National Coordinator awarded contracts to HealthLINC, HealthBridge and
Regenstrief Institute (IHIE) through the National Health Information Network.
The HIEs worked together as part of the NHIN Cooperative to securely exchange
data including summary patient records for providers and patients. This
initiative demonstrated a variety of capabilities between HIEs.

"Today`s go-live represents a real milestone in the use of technology in health
care," said Dr. Todd Rowland, Executive Director of HealthLINC. "This is the
first real-time, live, ongoing health information exchange between separate
communities. Previous demonstrations have used test data or been within a single
organization using the same technology system."

For the patient, this connectivity means improved sharing of health information
among their providers without the total burden being upon them and their family.
For office staff, results and documents will be at their fingertips in organized
electronic charts, not phone calls and faxes away.

"Coordination of care requires information sharing. While many medical practices
have systems that can share information internally, the connection between
different regions and organizations allows me to track patient results from many
labs or specialists," said Dr. Jim Laughlin of the Southern Indiana Pediatrics
group. "It is only through this kind of information sharing that we can hope to
coordinate care in an efficient manner."

About HealthBridge

HealthBridge was founded in 1997 as a community effort to share health
information electronically in the Greater Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky tri-state
area. HealthBridge has now grown to be one of the nation`s largest and most
successful health information exchanges. Each month HealthBridge enables roughly
3 million clinical lab tests, radiology reports, and other clinical information
to be transmitted to authorized physicians through HealthBridge`s secure
electronic network. For more information about HealthBridge, see
www.healthbridge.org

About HealthLINC (Bloomington)

HealthLINC is a health information exchange formed by Bloomington Hospital and
the physician community in Southern Indiana. This community-based organization
leads the HIE effort on behalf of healthcare stakeholders in Monroe, Orange and
surrounding counties in South Central Indiana. HealthLINC`s key responsibilities
are to establish a shared vision and goal for the HIE while representing
community-wide stakeholder interests to support a fully integrated electronic
healthcare delivery system. To learn more about HealthLINC, see
www.healthlinc.org

About Indiana Health Information Exchange (Indianapolis)

Indiana Health Information Exchange, Inc. (IHIE) is a non-profit corporation
formed by the Regenstrief Institute, private hospitals, local and state health
departments, BioCrossroads, the state`s life sciences initiative, and other
prominent organizations in Indiana. IHIE is the nation`s most respected health
information exchange organization and one of the nation's only health
information exchange organizations providing chronic disease and preventive
health services (www.qualityhealthfirst.org). It is dedicated to supporting
communities by providing services that enable the right medical information to
get to the right provider at the right time to enhance patient care. To learn
more, visit www.ihie.org. The Regenstrief Institute is an internationally
recognized informatics and healthcare research organization, with one of the
largest and most comprehensive medical informatics laboratories in the world.

Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available:
http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/mmg.cgi?eid=6041212&lang=en

HealthBridge
Trudi Matthews, 513-247-5266
tmatthews@healthbridge.org
or
Biocrossroads
Lori Leroy, 317-238-2456
lleroy@biocrossroads.com
or
HealthLINC
Dr. Todd Rowland, 812-353-4025
toddrowland@healthlinc.org

Copyright Business Wire 2009