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  The LINK                                    December 2019/Issue 39
Adoption
Percent of WNY practices who participate with HEALTHeLINK: 87%

Total number of patient consent forms signed: 1,297,609

Total results available through HEALTHeLINK: 263,053,405

Total number of patient record look up queries in HEALTHeLINK from January-November 2019: 4,220,386

Total number of practices sending data to HEALTHeLINK from their EMR: 414

Total number of practices getting results delivered from HEALTHeLINK into their EMR: 420
New Data Sources 
Adult Medical Services

Alvarez MD and Leary MC PLLC

Cattaraugus County Dept. of Community Services

Elderwood at Bassett Park Assisted Living, Cheektowaga Assisted Living, Hamburg Assisted Living, St. Gregory Court Assisted Living, Tonawanda Assisted Living, West Seneca Assisted Living, Wheatfield Assisted Living, Williamsville

Hamburg Regional Gynecology PC

Maximus 909 Operations

Schofield Home Health Care Services (42 CFR Part 2 Facility)

Sheridan Pediatrics

Womens Wellness Associates

Wyoming County Community Health System

For a complete listing of data sources and participating practices, click here !
Top Users of HEALTHeLINK's Patient Record Look-up
Hospital Users
  1. Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center
  2. Kaleida Health System
  3. Roswell Park Cancer Institute
  4. Erie County Medical Center
  5. Catholic Health System
Physician Practice Users
  1. General Physician PC
  2. Dent Neurologic Institute
  3. Buffalo Medical Group
  4. WNY Urology Associates
  5. Trinity Medical Cardiology
  6. Windsong Radiology
  7. Landmark Medical
  8. The Chautauqua Center
  9. RPCI Oncology PC
  10. UB Neurosurgery
Other Participant Type Users
  1. Greater Buffalo United Accountable Healthcare Network
  2. ConnectLife
  3. Health Homes of Upstate New York
  4. Health Home Partners of Western New York
  5. Erie County Department of Health
HEALTHeLINK is a "Clinical Data Registry" for MIPS/APM Reporting
Are you participating, or thinking of participating in one of CMS's Quality Payment Programs such as Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS), or Advanced Alternative Payment Model (APM)?

Did you know that HEALTHeLINK is considered a Clinical Data Registry under the Promoting Interoperability Category and Public Health and Clinical Data Exchange objective?

If your practice currently contributes C-CDA's, or has signed a HEALTHeLINK CCD Directive, you are able to meet this objective for MIPS/APM reporting. Please click here for the Clinical Data Registry Attestation form for you and HEALTHeLINK to sign and keep for your records. If you have additional questions, please reach out to your HEALTHeLINK Account Manager.

Porreca presents at New England HIMSS Conference
Dan Porreca presenting at New England HIMSS Conference

In October, Executive Director Dan Porreca was among the featured speakers at the New England HIMSS Conference where he was part of the discussion on "Information Exchange Success Stories: Beyond New England."
New York State Legislators provided briefings
HEALTHeLINK has been meeting with various members and staff from the region's representatives in the New York State Legislature to brief them on issues relevant to its operations. HEALTHeLINK also used the meetings to thank representatives for their continued support of the SHINY in the New York State budget.
 
In addition to providing a general overview and history of the organization, HEALTHeLINK also has discussed current initiatives, including efforts related to Population Health.
 
To date, HEALTHeLINK has met with New York State Senator Patrick Gallivan and New York State Assembly members Sean Ryan, Monica Wallace and Karen McMahon. HEALTHeLINK also has met with staff from New York State Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes and New York State Senator Tim Kennedy.

NYeC announces results of study showing that HIE use reduces healthcare costs by an estimated $160M-$195M annually 
The New York eHealth Collaborative (NYeC) announced in a November press release that use of the Statewide Health Information Network for New York (SHIN-NY) is reducing unnecessary healthcare spending in New York State by $160-$195 million annually, including significant savings to Medicaid and Medicare.

If current participants just used the system's full capabilities, nearly $1 billion could be saved each year in costs associated with duplicate testing, avoidable hospitalizations and readmissions, and preventable emergency department visits.
 
HEALTHeLINK is contributing significantly to these savings as a result of the high utilization rate among providers, which is among the highest utilization rates in New York State.
 
The cost savings in the NYeC analysis were broke down in three categories: duplicate testing, avoidable hospitalizations and readmissions, and avoidable emergency room visits. Over the past few years HEALTHeLINK has conducted its own studies using the same categories, the results of which verify cost savings.

Welcome Sarah Cotter to the HEALTHeLINK team
Sarah Cotter
Sarah Cotter, MPH, has joined HEALTHeLINK as population health director, responsible for providing leadership and strategic perspective in the efforts of improving community health using HEALTHeLINK's population health platform.
 
Cotter brings nearly 15 years of experience in health care operations to her new role with HEALTHeLINK. In her most recent position, Cotter served as Vice President of Clinical Transformation & Operations at Catholic Medical Partners in Buffalo.
Elmwood Health Center to be featured in NYeC videos
A film crew from downstate recently visited the Elmwood Health Center to highlight how the facility is effectively using HEALTHeLINK in treating its diverse patient population including both persons with developmental disabilities, as well as individuals from the community at large.
 
NYeC is featuring providers across the state that are effectively utilizing Qualified Entities (QE), such as HEALTHeLINK, to demonstrate the efficacy and return on investment of state funding for regional health information organizations (RHIOs) and the SHIN-NY.
 
The Elmwood Health Center is affiliated with People, Inc.
Michael Utz named chair of NYeC Technical Sub-Committee
Michael Utz HEALTHeLINK Technical Team Lead Michael Utz has been appointed chair of the Technical Sub-Committee for New York eHealth Collaborative's Business Operations Committee. 

New York eHealth Collaborative (NYeC) is a non-profit organization working in partnership with the New York State Department of Health to improve healthcare by collaboratively leading, connecting, and integrating health information exchange (HIE) across the state.
In the community
ConnectLife Photo 
HEALTHeLINK recently participated in the ConnectLife One Buffalo Challenge and were recognized as the "Most Engaged"  organization throughout the challenge. HEALTHeLINK hosted an organ donor registry drive, blood drive, a lunch and learn, and a dress down day with proceeds donated to ConnectLife, formerly Upstate New York Transplant Services (UNYTS).

Team HEALTHeLINK at the American Heart Association_s CycleNation
Team HEALTHeLINK was a proud sponsor of the American Heart Association's 2019 CycleNation event on September 14. Through raffles and auctions, more than $700 was raised by the team, in addition to the sponsorship.

Drew McNichol IronMan Congratulations to Drew McNichol, technology director and security officer at HEALTHeLINK, for completing his first full IronMan Triathlon in Louisville, Kentucky on October 13. The race consisted of 2.4 miles of swimming, 112 miles of biking, and 26.2 miles of running. McNichol has participated in 31 triathlons since 2010. This was a decades dream brought to fruition.
HEALTHeLINK Medical Minutes 
The HEALTHeLINK Medical Minutes continue to air Wednesdays on Fox 29 during the 10 p.m. newscast. Tune in or check out HEALTHeLINK on Facebook , Twitter , LinkedIn , or YouTube to view the latest minutes. Recent Medical Minutes have included:
You can always hear firsthand from various local health care leaders about the value and benefits of health information exchange in Western New York by viewing all of our medical minutes here.
HEALTHeLINK in the News 
Resources

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Proud to be part of the Statewide Health Information Network of New York (SHIN-NY)