Western Washington Rural Health Care Collaborative (WWRHCC), a non-profit rural health network, is now live with Orion Health, Inc.’s web-based health information exchange (HIE) to facilitate electronic information sharing between three, expanding to nine, previously disparate, critical access hospitals and the Level I Trauma Center for Washington.
The collaborative HIE, funded through a Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) and the Washington State Department of Health, Office of Community and Rural Health grant award, is supported by standards-based technology from Orion Health.
WWRHCC Executive Director Elizabeth Floersheim says the Collaborative wanted to take charge of health care quality and delivery in their own communities.
Selecting Orion Health was the obvious choice, after reviewing several other products. Orion Health was able to provide technology to implement complete HIE infrastructure solution including messaging, clinical data repository, master patient index, and tele-pharmacy capabilities at the most competitive price.
WWRHCC is comprised of nine federally designated critical access hospitals serving all or portions of nine Western Washington counties. Allowing these disparate hospitals to exchange patient information was critical in achieving their goal of reducing costs and improving quality of care through a sharing of resources across the region i.e. tele-Pharmacy. Additionally, the ability to provide real-time information when transferring a trauma patient to Seattle will decrease wait time and improve the continuity of care for rural patients.
Orion Health is a provider of clinical workflow and integration technology for the healthcare sector.