A WORD FROM JENN SEARLS:

Connecting to Connie and leveraging data has always been easier for large systems to implement. Hospitals have dedicated IT and integration departments to facilitate sharing Connie's records with their specialists and coordinate patient care across many sites. But some of the most meaningful work happens with partners who have far fewer resources to work with. 

Local and regional public health agencies are a good example. Many operate with small teams covering broad responsibilities, from outbreak response to specialized services like poison control, and they don't have the staff or infrastructure to build data-sharing capabilities on their own. 

Our partnership with the Connecticut Poison Control Center is a case in point. CPCC handles urgent calls involving exposures and poisonings, often needing quick access to a patient's clinical history to guide treatment decisions. Through Connie, CPCC can access that history directly, without waiting on records requests, relying on a caller to recall details accurately during a stressful moment, or trying to track down busy hospital clinicians. 

This summer, we had the chance to share that work more broadly when Heidi Wilson, Director of HIE Services at Connie, presented at the National Association of County and City Health Officials conference. The response reinforced something we already believed: public health agencies want the same access to coordinated data that larger health systems have, and they shouldn't need hospital-scale resources to get it. 

That's the responsibility we carry as Connecticut's health information exchange, making sure the infrastructure works for every partner relying on it, regardless of size. As we look for more opportunities like this one, we remain committed to building tools that meet partners where they are. 

I also want to give special recognition to Amanda Crociata, Director of Account Management at Connie, for fostering these relationships and making connections like this possible.  

Thank you for your partnership, 

Jenn 

POPULATION EXPLORER

Connie is excited to announce two new services in Explorer: Cervical Cancer Screening and Abnormal A1c Notification.  

Cervical Cancer Screening is a new option within the existing Preventive Services Quick Filter in Explorer. The Preventive Services category alerts you to patients who have completed preventive screenings whenever they have received care. Using parameters that support quality measures, the filter is designed to reduce the time it takes to determine which patients have had preventive screenings. Preventive Services filters include: 

• Colorectal Cancer Screening 
• Breast Cancer Screening 
• Cervical Cancer Screening 

Abnormal A1c Notification is also available in Quick Filter. It alerts you to patients with HgbA1c test results of 5.7% or higher and gives you the flexibility to review this population or drill down further to diabetic and pre-diabetic patients within specified HgbA1c ranges using additional filter options.  

Both filters will alert you to subsets of your patient population to support quality work and patient care.  

POPULATION HEALTH REPORTS

In addition to our Demographics and Revisit reports, we now have two new reports available: the Diabetes Prevention and Control report and the SNF Length of Stay report. The Diabetes Prevention and Control report summarizes A1c, uACR, and eGFR lab results and completion rates for non-diabetic, pre-diabetic, and diabetic patients. The SNF Length of Stay Report tracks SNF visits and lengths of stay so providers can identify patient populations that may be experiencing extended SNF utilization. 

If you have questions about either of these services, please reach out to our team for more information at info@conniect.org 

The Connie Blog is where we bring together insights and updates that show how secure health data sharing through Connie supports better care across the state. 

Check out our latest posts from this past quarter for perspectives from the Connie team and special guests on our consent tools and data sharing, opportunities in rural health, and new initiatives to promote a more connected, patient-centered healthcare ecosystem.  

Dive into the latest posts and learn more: 

• Local Public Health Agencies Can Improve Operations with HIE Integration by Heidi Wilson, Connie HIE Services Director
• My Health Story is Mine to Tell by Mark DeBrady
• Connecticut is Investing in Rural Health. Here's How to Get Involved.

CONNIE NEWS

Read all about it! In a CT Insider op-ed, "As a recovering addict, I want control over which health data is shared," Connecticut resident and Connie PFAC member Mark DeBrady shares his experience using the Connie consent tool, and how patients can use it to protect sensitive SUD and behavioral health information. Mark discusses why patients should have control over who is able to see their data, and how the state’s health information exchange empowers this through the Connie Portal. 

Read the whole feature here.

Connie Executive Director Jenn Searls recently traveled to Portland, Oregon, for the Medicaid Enterprise Systems Conference (MESC). This annual national event brings together more than 2,400 leaders from the federal government, states, and the private sector to discuss advances in Medicaid technology and health policy. Jenn was particularly interested in hearing how colleagues in other states are preparing to support HR 1’s community engagement requirements. North Carolina’s HIE shared its work with Medicaid to help county caseworkers facilitate medical frailty determinations. Contexture (the HIE for Arizona and Colorado) and CRISP Maryland also highlighted their work related to HR 1 and the range of approaches available to state Medicaid agencies for administering the medical frailty exemption. Learning how HIEs across the country are supporting their state Medicaid agencies is always valuable and illuminating.

HIE Services Director Heidi Wilson also attended NACCHO, where she held a poster session that featured Connie's work with Connecticut Poison Control and highlighted the benefits of a health information exchange for local public health to improve patient outcomes.  

Read Heidi’s blog post about this topic here!

Have you seen Connie at community events? This summer, team members Ishrat Nur Ridi, Jamie Girvin, and Erin Tyrol have continued connecting at state health fairs, farmers markets, wellness events and community walks across Connecticut, including the UCONN Health Half Marathon, New Haven Farmers Market, Wethersfield Farmers Market, CT Hospice Miles for Memories, and the Waterbury Senior Expo!    

From wellness fairs and farmers markets to walks, expos, and neighborhood gatherings, the Connie team is engaging with communities and turning friendly conversations into connections that continue to build trust and awareness.  .  

Be sure to look for the Connie booth at upcoming events, including: 

• Ellington Farmers Market - Sept. 12 | Ellington, CT 
• 11th Annual iCAN Conference - Sept. 14 | Hartford, CT
• Southeast Healthy Living Expo - Sept. 16 | Norwich CT
• GNACC Healthy Living & Family Fun Festival – Oct. 3 | Norwich, CT
• Hartford Marathon – Oct.10 | Simsbury, CT
• Hartford Public Library – Oct. 13 | Hartford, CT

We look forward to seeing you!

NEW PARTICIPANTS ARE JOINING CONNIE EVERY DAY!

 We continue to connect hundreds of participating organizations (POs) that securely exchange data for millions of Connecticut patients through Connie. This quarter has been particularly exciting! Recent go-lives include Planned Parenthood of Southern New England, Quest Diagnostics, and Total Pain Treatment Centers of Connecticut! Visit the Connected Participating Organizations Dashboard to explore our growing network and the data being shared. 

DID YOU KNOW..?

You can donate your digital spare change to Connie using RoundUp donations! These automatic, tax-deductible donations can be set up online here: https://www.roundup.org/nonprofit/ct/west-hartford/connie-ct-health-information-alliance-inc  

CHECK OUT OUR LATEST PARTICIPANT TESTIMONIALS

"Connie Explorer has become an important tool for our organization’s population health and quality-improvement efforts. It supports our existing data-mining processes by helping us more efficiently identify and address gaps in care for colorectal cancer, breast cancer, and cervical cancer screenings.

The recent addition of the cervical cancer screening functionality has been especially valuable, helping us close nearly 100 gaps in care. Our single sign-on integration with Connie Explorer further streamlines this work by allowing staff to access the tool and close care gaps directly from the patient chart.

Connie Explorer gives our teams actionable insight that supports timely outreach and improves preventive screening rates."

Juliet Austin | Reporting and Analytics Manager-Information Technology, Wheeler Clinic

"Having the ability to access records from all over the state has greatly improved the clinical overview we have of our patients. The Connie staff made onboarding to Connie pain-free, and the system is surprisingly easy to use, with many intuitive helpful features. As a small independent private practice, we value having access to clinical records, both inpatient, outpatient, and diagnostics, some of which were not readily available in the past. Often, we would have had to submit a request in writing to a health system's HIT department to request records which could take days or weeks for non-urgent matters. Now these records are at our fingertips, which directly benefits patient care. Thanks, Connie!"

Anne Kelly | Manager, Dr. Michael Kelly/Salisbury 
Primary Care 

We’re shining the spotlight on Russell Dexter, Director of Analytics and Data Quality at Connie!

Russ joined the Connie leadership team in April of 2024. Since that time, he has carefully and thoughtfully laid out a plan for how we can improve the quality of the data we receive. 

There are two things that we really appreciate about Russ. The first is his ability to distill data quality gains – and gaps – into individual patient terms. He constantly reminds us of how an increase in the quality of a particular data element translates into the number of patients benefited. More than that, he shares exactly how those individual patients will benefit from the improvement. The second is his unabashed enthusiasm for our team. He is always appreciative of his colleagues and tells them both in public on our weekly huddles but also in our regular 1:1 meetings. He is the first to extend thanks to any team member for their work on an initiative he’s part of and often thanks other team members for the work they do, irrespective of whether it benefits an initiative he’s running. 

Russ’s combination of data-driven focus, patient-centered perspective, and sincere appreciation for his colleagues has made a meaningful impact on Connie. We are fortunate to have him as part of our leadership 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!