New Data From Shared Health, Inc., Proves Effectiveness of Health Information Exchange for Improving Patient Outcomes at the Poi...( CHATTANOOGA Tenn. Dec. 12 -- Ten...),Health

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn., Dec. 12 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Tennessee-based Shared Health, Inc., the largest public/private health information exchange (HIE) in the nation, announced today the results of a new study that shows a 17% improvement in efficiencies following implementation of its HIE. The efficiency improvements are the result of the benefits clinicians experience when incorporating the Shared Health solution into their practice workflow.

Shared Health analysts investigated the influence of their system by studying practices where the Shared Health Clinical Health Record(R) (CHR) was frequently accessed to treat patients during 2006. "Shared Health evaluates impact by using episode treatment groups (ETGs), which combine like episodes of care into consistent groupings of similar conditions with equivalent severity," said David Axene of Axene Health Partners, which has assisted Shared Health on similar studies. Axene indicated that "ETG methodology has been validated nationally and is effective in studying comparative care, efficiency, and cost."

Shared Health focused on a group of practices meeting specified criteria of accessing patients in the CHR during 2006, the first full year of Shared Health adoption. In order to achieve a precise control group, analysts compared 2005 (prior to Shared Health adoption) with 2006 for Shared Health patients treated by the same practice for the same conditions in both years. This comparison demonstrated a 17% cost efficiency improvement in 2006 when practitioners used Shared Health's CHR to assist with assessing patients.

These results were further evaluated to establish the areas where efficiencies were achieved. ETG methodology allowed for separate examinations of contributions from ancillary, facility, management, pharmacy, and surgery. The enhanced efficiencies clinicians experienced were in the pharmacy, facility, and ancillary areas.

In assessing the results, Dr. Bruce
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