A WORD FROM JENN SEARLS:

It is the end of our fiscal year and as summer turns to fall, I am reflecting on the last week in September when Connie hosted several critical meetings.  

We began the week with our annual Advisory Council meeting. This is an opportunity for the Connie team to bring together its Advisory Councils - the Clinical Advisory Council, the Patient and Family Advisory Council, the Data Governance Committee – and the Connie Board. The team presented an overview on updated features in Connie, progress on connecting participating organizations, and our data quality work. While it was an opportunity for the Connie team to present our accomplishments over the year, it was also an opportunity for lively and engaged discussion, driving ideas, and desires for future services and the Connie roadmap. 

The conversation, ideas, and feedback was critical and so valuable to Connie. 

Our Annual Board Meeting followed where the Board re-elected Claudio Gualtieri as Treasurer, Mark Raymond as the Privacy, Confidentiality and Security Committee Chair and Gwen Reyes as Board Secretary. Thank you to the entire Connie Board for their ongoing commitment and leadership.  

On Thursday, the Connie team had a chance to get together in person! What a day it was – we heard from representatives of three of our participating organizations – Lori Smith of SoNE HEALTH, Ann Rausch of Community Health Network of Connecticut, and Cheryl Lescarbeau of Connecticut Children’s Care Network. They provided the Connie team with detailed examples of how they use the data and tools that Connie provides to take care of their patients.  

 We heard things like:  

• “…without Connie, we would be hobbled.”  
•  Connie “…saves so much staff time”  
•  “We exist for our patients. The lack of this data would impact our ability to take care of our patients; it would impact our community.”  
•  “Going without Connie’s data, would be like going back to the Dark Ages."

As validating as it was to hear how Connie helps their work with patients, it was equally critical to get feedback on their needs, current and future, and how Connie can step up to support those needs. 

We heard ideas like: 

• Can Connie create a workflow to allow a user to merge patient records whey they know that two records are the same patient? 
• Are there ways that Connie can use Natural Language Processing to improve data utility? 
• Can we link prescribed medications to dispensed medications to support medication reconciliation? 
• Can we ingest claims data and marry that information with clinical data? 

We also got a chance to reflect on the past year and think about where we need to head in our final year of our 3-year strategic plan. And finally, we had some fun! We tried our hands at art and then had dinner together before the team went home on Friday. It’s safe to say that some of us have backup careers if this whole interoperability thing doesn’t pan out, and some of us, do not! 

Our final event of the week was our Patient and Family Advisory Council. This small but mighty group heard progress on the roll out of our Patient Portal and discussed at length consent considerations for Connie. 

What a week!  

I’d like to hear from you. This is the last year of our three-year strategic plan where we’ve been focused on 5 strategic initiatives:  

• Enhancing the utility of health data  
• Empowering patients  
• Optimizing care team tools  
• Advancing population health  
• Maintaining operational excellence  

How can Connie continue to make progress on its strategic initiatives in its upcoming year? Please share your thoughts by emailing me at Jenn.Searls@conniect.org.

Do you have patients who are passionate about healthcare? Encourage them to apply to join Connie's Patient and Family Advisory Committee (PFAC)! As a member of PFAC, they will be part of a dynamic group, meeting quarterly through online and in-person meetings to provide recommendations in how Connie’s patient services – like easier access to medical data – can better service them and everyone else who receives health care in the state by sharing their thoughts and experiences. 

We're committed to inclusivity, offering accommodations whenever possible, including those with disabilities or language interpretation needs. You can direct interested patients to our website for more information and read a current member's experience on our blog. 

UPCOMING WEBINARS FOR PROSPECTIVE AND CONNECTED ORGS!

Not Yet Connected? Learn how Connie can support your organization!

Join a Connie Account Manager for a live webinar, where you'll discover how to connect with Connie, updates on available tools and services, a walkthrough of the Connie Portal, and a Q&A to answer questions about Connie!

This session is open to all organizations that are not yet connected. Come see how Connie can help improve care coordination, data quality, and improve your organization's access to clinical data.

REGISTER NOW

Join us for a LIVE webinar to learn what's new with Connie, and how to get the most out of your connection.

Hosted by a Connie Account Manager, this session will highlight new tools, features, and services, go over tips to maximize Connie data, and give a live Q&A to answer all questions Connie!



Whether you're newly connected or a long-time participant, this is a great opportunity to stay up to date and make sure your organization is leveraging all Connie has to offer!

REGISTER NOW

Connie has a new service – Clinical Reports! Clinical Reports is a powerful tool in the Connie Portal that provides connected organizations with insight into patient health trends with aggregated population-level reports, which include: 

Demographic Report: A filterable view of your patient’s panel, including location, age, gender, race, ethnicity, and preferred language , along with top chronic conditions based on ICD-10 codes. Informational tables include demographic details collected across organizations with the aim of supporting health equity programs. 

Hospital Revisit Report: This report tracks hospital revisit rates following discharges and SNF/LTC stays using ADTs for timely, actionable information. Providers can view which facilities have higher revisit rates, which patients are most often readmitted, and trend shifts over a two-year period.

Clinical Reports are available in the Connie Portal. If you are interested in learning more about this optional service, please reach out to your Account Manager. If you are not yet connected with Connie, reach out to your Account Manager or contact us at info@conniect.org to learn about the onboarding process! 

CONNIE NEWS

The Connie team has been busy spreading the word about the benefits of Connecticut’s HIE and making new connections!  

This quarter, we took part in the ICAN Connecticut Conference on Sept. 25th for an event that brought together voices of resilience, recovery, and wellness. One of the highlights for us was the opportunity to introduce our Patient Connect service, which empowers individuals to securely access their medical records from all participating clinicians—making healthcare more connected, convenient, and patient-centered than ever before. It was a day of learning, sharing, and celebrating the strength of community.  

We also attended the American Case Management Association (ACMA) Connecticut Conference this Sept. 27th, which provided educational and networking opportunities for Case Management and Transitions of Care professionals within the Health Care Delivery System across Connecticut and neighboring states. This event offered a valuable platform to exchange knowledge, foster collaboration, and engage with professionals dedicated to improving care transitions and patient outcomes.  

We were grateful for the opportunity to take part in such meaningful professional development experiences right in our own community!

COME MEET US IN GROTON, CT ON NOV. 4-5

This November, we will have a booth at the New England Rural Health Association Conference, with the theme of Rural Health in a Changing World. The Connie team is always eager to meet, greet, and share the benefits of Connecticut’s HIE, so be sure to stop by and say hello if you see us! 

This fall, keep up with all things Connie by reading the Connie blog! Authored by the Connie team and special guests, the blog is a go-to for service updates, insights, and first-hand experiences from organizations just like yours!   

Don’t miss out on our three most recent posts: 



• Connie's Commitment to Strong Cybersecurity
• Why You Should Join Connie's Patient and Family Advisory Committee
• One portal. All your health records.

Connie Patient Connect is a secure, easy-to-use, free portal that provides patients with access to their health information across multiple providers, regardless of what EMR is used. Encouraging your patients to use Connie Patient Connect empowers them to be active collaborators in their healthcare journey with their care team through: 

• Daily updates, so patients can view their health information, updated daily from their healthcare providers.  
• Allow caretakers and family members authorized by the patient to access their health data to help manage their care. 
• Create their own custom downloadable reports, so patients can track, organize, and share their own health data from their health records, like medication lists or lists of their visits to different providers. 
• Personalize their information to add appointments, to-do lists, and additional health information, like over-the-counter medications or blood pressure results they’ve taken at home. 

UPDATE: If a patient’s healthcare provider is sending clinical health information to Connie, they can now view their health conditions in Connie Patient Connect. Click this link for more information: https://zurl.co/bE41Y 

To learn more about the patient portal, visit Connie’s website at: https://zurl.co/iIKPC

NEW PARTICIPANTS ARE JOINING CONNIE EVERY DAY!

We continue to establish connections with hundreds of participating organizations (POs) that securely exchange data for millions of Connecticut patients through Connie. We would like to highlight some of our recently onboarded partners who are actively sharing data via our Health Information Exchange, including Civita Care Center, Internal Medicine of Greater New Haven, and imaging with ProHealth Physicians! Be sure to explore the Connected Participating Organizations Dashboard to view our continuously growing list of connected organizations and discover the valuable data they contribute! 

CHECK OUT OUR LATEST PARTICIPANT TESTIMONIALS

"Connie is very user friendly providing access to important clinical reports and demographic details, along with fast and professional support from clinical trainers. Connie has become an invaluable resource to our Quality Teams and medical offices daily processes." 

Jennifer Burdette, Quality Control Nurse/CBO | Eastern CT Health Network

“Connie has enabled us to retrieve preventative care information from external sources not connected through EPIC. This comprehensive view of patient care empowers our providers to deliver more informed and coordinated services. By using Connie, we are now able to close care gaps within minutes—an improvement that previously required hours of manual outreach.” 

Samantha Caffrey, RN, BSN, Medical Implementation Specialist | InterCommunity CT

We’re shining the spotlight on Melissa Shuster, Program Assistant for Participating Organization Relations/Outreach!

Melissa initiates the connection process for new participating organizations, provides educational demonstrations, assists the Account Management team, and often accompanies Erin Tyrol, Clinical Applications Trainer, for in-person training for using Connie.

She is a vital part of Connie, and we’re grateful to have Melissa on the team! 

YOUR OPINION MATTERS!

If you're a regular Connie user and would like to provide us with some feedback on our current services, we would love to hear from you! Please take 2 minutes to complete our survey below. THANK YOU IN ADVANCE!