Health Information Exchange Featured Article

August 14, 2012

Harris Corporation Joins with Quest Diagnostics to Add Technology, Thousands of Doctors to Florida HIE



Harris Corporation (HRS), an international communications and information technology company, today announced an agreement with Quest Diagnostics for its Care360 suite of solutions, a Web-based platform that provides physicians with online laboratory test ordering, e-prescribing, clinical messaging and clinical documentation, making it easier to get access to necessary clinical information, communications and helping to improve coordination of care.

The agreement will also enable the Florida Health Information Exchange (HIE), currently being implemented by HRS, to integrate the company’s direct secure messaging services capability with the Care360 app to connect with all users and providers of the 11,000 physician offices in Florida currently using Care360, according to a company statement.

The technology framework provided by the Florida HIE allows participating healthcare providers to securely get access to and send patient health information to authorized participants.

Quest Diagnostics will be the first technology vendor to partner with the Florida HIE, through Harris, to offer Harris’ direct secure messaging service for the exchange of clinical data among providers.

Users will now be able to securely send referrals and provider-to-provider messages, as well as exchange health histories, results, medication histories, lab results, problem lists and other clinical data.

“The addition of the 11,000 physician offices in Quest Diagnostics’ Florida physician network continues our progress toward increasing the use of the statewide HIE,” said Don Mestas, vice president, Harris Healthcare Solutions. “With Care360 now connected to the HIE, providers across Florida can securely share patient information, to make it available when and where it is needed, and to deliver the best possible care to patients.”

The agreement “will lead to a broader application of secure messaging and encourage rapid adoption through greater integration and market penetration.”

HIEs, the cornerstone of the health reform act, are being set up around the country to electronically connect healthcare providers within states so they can share patient information, coordinate care and hopefully, provide better outcomes.

Last week Massachusetts announced that it had received a $17 million federal grant to begin implementing an HIE in that state.  

At the same time, many states are fighting the creation of health insurance exchanges (HIXs), another element of the health reform act, which are basically supermarkets of health insurance where people can pick and choose among many different policies, but the federal government will step in if a state’s HIX is not set up within a certain amount of time.




Edited by Rachel Ramsey
Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. [Free eNews Subscription]
Share