A Medical Device Daily

Indiana Health Information Exchange (IHIE; Indianapolis) reported that Saint Anthony Medical Center (Crown Point), Saint Anthony Memorial (Michigan City) and Saint Margaret Mercy (Hammond and Dyer) are now using its results delivery/clinical messaging service, called the DOCS4DOCS service.

These hospitals serve patients in northwest Indiana and make up the Northern Indiana Region of the Sisters of St. Francis Health Services (SSFHS; Mishawaka) health system, a charter member of IHIE.

"We are pleased to add these four hospitals to our growing network," said J. Marc Overhage, president/CEO of the Indiana Health Information Exchange, director of medical informatics at the Regenstrief Institute (Indianapolis) and professor of medical informatics at the Indiana University School of Medicine (also Indianapolis). "These additions to our network demonstrate the value of the service and reinforce the commitment of these communities to provide the best health care possible for their patients."

The DOCS4DOCS service is a secure, web-based service that delivers clinical reports such as transcription, radiology and laboratory to physician offices, replacing traditional delivery systems such as courier and postal mail. It was developed by the Regenstrief Institute and is run in conjunction with IHIE.

"IHIE is a significant component of health-care information technology and it greatly advances our network of hospitals to provide efficient, seamless and top-notch care for our patients," said Kevin Leahy, president/CEO of Sisters of St. Francis Health Services.

"The SSFHS Northern Indiana Region hospitals have been eager to implement the services of the Indiana Health Information Exchange for patients and physicians in the region," said Gene Diamond, CEO of the SSFHS Northern Indiana Region. "For individual patients, access to good care becomes easier and safer when records can easily be shared. For the medical staff, the confidential, clinical messaging results in greater time efficiency in providing patient treatment.

He added, "Having quality information at the point of care is essential to providing the best patient treatment."

In other grants/contracts news:

• Gonzaba Medical Group (San Antonio), a multi-site medical practice with 20 physicians, has selected Intergy EHR by Sage Electronic Health Records and Intergy by Sage Practice Management System to provide its newest San Antonio-based clinic with seamless access to patient and clinical data at all points of care - without the use of paper charts.

"We researched a multitude of healthcare IT vendors and found that only Sage Software [Tampa] offered a fully integrated database system that would allow us to interoperate with legacy clinical, administrative and financial applications," said William Gonzaba, MD, founder and CEO of Gonzaba. "Since we have Intergy by Sage already installed in our other clinics and have experienced the resulting improvements in productivity and cash flow, we are confident that the addition of Intergy EHR will also deliver substantial workflow efficiencies and enhanced patient care."

• Premier Purchasing Partners (Charlotte, North Carolina) reported a new agreement for healthcare technology assessment resources has been awarded to ECRI Institute (Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania). The 36-month agreement, effective June 1, is available for acute-care and continuum-of-care Premier members.