Emergency departments across Kentucky will get access to new information exchange technology, offering critical data for more informed treatment decisions, because of a $250,000 grant from the Anthem Foundation.

WHY IT MATTERS
The software from vendor Collective Medical Technologies, called EDie, links networks of connected EDs, enabling them to share key information. The tool aggregates data from hospitals, clinics and payers, using it to build a concise report – with patient history, visit summaries and other recommendations for care – that can be accessed by providers in the ED.

With help from the Anthem grant, it's being provided free to hospitals statewide by the Kentucky Hospital Association. Members will gain access to the Collective Medical network, and can use EDie to facilitate care coordination among providers – supporting at-risk patients who visit the ED frequently for care, reducing avoidable readmissions and enabling better collaboration to help combat the opioid epidemic, according to the KHA.

"Emergency room hopping is a serious obstacle in helping people suffering from addiction and this software can tell a treating physician if the patient has a history of ER visits for pain treatment," said KHA President Nancy Galvagni in a statement. "EDie can be the difference between enabling addiction and treating it.”

THE LARGER TREND
Ten hospitals in the state have already deployed the tool, and this grant will enable more than two dozen other EDs to roll it out, giving them access to data from sites across Kentucky – substance use and behavioral health organizations, skilled nursing facilities, specialty clinics – as well as health systems in other states.

“Information is a powerful tool in medicine, especially emergency medicine when life and death decisions must be made quickly,” said Harold C. Warman, president of Prestonsburg, Kentucky-based Highlands Regional Medical Center, the first hospital in the state to implement EDie, which he said "consolidates information from multiple sources that would otherwise take hours to obtain."

ON THE RECORD
"At Anthem, our mission is to simplify healthcare, and improve lives and communities. We value the relationships we have with providers, which in this instance is working to break down information silos and deliver better care," said Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Kentucky President Kennan Wethington in a statement. "We’re incredibly proud of this innovative partnership because it will put this technology in the hands of more physicians as more forward-thinking hospitals choose to participate."

Twitter: @MikeMiliardHITN
Email the writer: mike.miliard@himssmedia.com

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