CareAdvisors, a Chicago-based health technology firm, introduced what it's calling an "equity information exchange" this past week, aimed at enabling network partners to share medical and social data about vulnerable patients.  

The EIX provides access to more than 150 million patient records nationwide via the Commonwell Health Alliance.  

"With an EIX, patients and providers benefit by allowing for cross-sector network partners, including community-based organizations and physical and behavioral health providers, to access and securely share information about a patient’s medical history and social needs,” CareAdvisors CEO Chris Gay said in a statement.  

WHY IT MATTERS  

The companies say that their goal with the EIX is to connect the medical information available in a health information exchange with the human services data in a community information exchange.

In doing so, they say, they hope to include safety-net providers in the digital transformation that has benefited much of the health industry.  

"Connecting to a nationwide network helps to transform our healthcare delivery system and data access," said Paul L. Wilder, executive director of the CommonWell Health Alliance, in a statement.  

"It allows safety-net providers to act big, while running small," Wilder said.  

"Instead of owning the data, you have access to it, making it possible to know if your patient is taking blood thinners and allowing you to improve health outcomes," he continued.  

In Chicago, member organizations of the Chicago Homelessness and Health Response Group for Equity coalition have begun to use the EIX via pilot programs aimed at treating individuals experiencing homelessness.  

"There’s a vital need to improve data sharing and enhance care coordination to at-risk populations," said Stephen Brown, director of preventative emergency medicine, University of Illinois Hospital and Health Sciences System, in a statement. "The patients we serve have received fragmented, uncoordinated care."  

The EIX is vendor-agnostic with regard to electronic health records and social service e-referral systems, which CareAdvisors say stems from its open-source health equity mission.  

"It’s a 'win-win' for the community and the care providers serving those neighborhoods," opined Gay.  

CareAdvisors says it is also exploring options with maternal health home-visiting programs and other homelessness programs across the country.  

THE LARGER TREND

Experts have frequently cited the power of data exchange to address health disparities, particularly in the context of wedding clinical information with social services.  

For instance, panelists at a WEDI Quest for Health Equity event this past February noted that it's vital to build upon the existing relationship between public health and medicine.  

"In terms of interoperability, technology [and] data, there may be a new conversation, but it's important for us to incorporate some of that work that's been going on for many decades," said Kenyetta Jackson, health equity manager, health solutions, at the American Medical Association.  

But former National Coordinator for Health IT Dr. Don Rucker argues that addressing population-wide health disparities will take wider efforts, such as FHIR analytics.  

"If we're going to do the things that are measures of value, measures of public health support for social determinants of health, we need sort of a different system than the connectivity pathways that we have today," he told Healthcare IT News in a recent interview.

ON THE RECORD  

"It’s all about care coordination," said Robyn Golden, associate vice president of social work and community health at Rush University Medical Center, in a statement about the new EIX. "This is the way for us to demonstrate our commitment to the community and offer continuity of care."

Kat Jercich is senior editor of Healthcare IT News.
Twitter: @kjercich
Email: kjercich@himss.org
Healthcare IT News is a HIMSS Media publication.