WellStar Connected to GaHIN; Webinar - Exploring Interoperability Benefits

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WellStar, Georgia's Largest Health System, Now Connected to GaHIN

WellStar Health System and GaHIN are now connected, allowing physicians and facilities of the state's largest health system to exchange patient data with other providers across Georgia and neighboring states.

"The addition of WellStar to the GaHIN Network is beneficial for both patients and their providers," said Pam Matthews, Executive Operating Officer of GaHIN. "WellStar patients' medical information is easily accessible by other providers which is beneficial when patients are vacationing, traveling across the state, or engaging specialty providers for consultations. Now, a WellStar provider will be able to access past medical history of a new patient through GaHIN. Likewise, a patient's WellStar visit information will be accessible by other providers. Easy access of patient information across providers, regardless of geographic location, facilitates high quality patient care and eliminates unnecessary and duplicate testing. This easy access to comprehensive information is the goal of interoperability."

WellStar has more than 20,000 employees and 2,500 medical staff members, as well as more than 1,000 physicians and advanced practice professionals in the WellStar Medical Group. We welcome WellStar to the GaHIN Community!

WellStar Facilities


Hospitals WellStar Atlanta Medical Center WellStar Atlanta Medical Center South WellStar Cobb Hospital WellStar Douglas Hospital WellStar Kennestone Hospital WellStar North Fulton Hospital WellStar Paulding Hospital WellStar Spalding Regional Hospital WellStar Sylvan Grove Hospital WellStar West Georgia Medical Center WellStar Windy Hill Hospital	Other Health Facilities 15 urgent care centers 16 satellite diagnostic imaging centers Three health parks and a pediatric center An adult congregate living facility Three skilled nursing facilities Three inpatient hospices 300 medical office locations

Hear From Your Peers - Interoperability Case Study at the June 26 Webinar

Our June 26th webinar will look at "How Interoperability Helps Practices Improve Patient Care and Operations." During this webinar, practices will discuss how they are using GaHIN and their regional HIE to realize patient benefits and how they have integrated the HIE tool into their workflow. In addition, we will talk about exchanging information with other providers, using the HIE to gather information on new patients and how it supports efforts to address the opioid crisis.

Register Now

The next two webinars focus on "The Role of Medication Fill Data in Measuring Adherence and Preventing Abuse" (Wednesday, July 24, 2019) and "How Interoperability Helps Hospitals Improve Patient Care and Care Coordination Across the Continuum of Care" (Wednesday, August 28, 2019) . Register here.

GaHIN BOD Member Dr. Warren Hutchings Recognized by State Medical Association

Warren S. Hutchings, M.D., received the Presidential Commendation for Outstanding Service from the Georgia State Medical Association (GSMA) at its 126th Annual Convention & Scientific Assembly Awards Dinner on Thursday, June 13, 2019. Dr. Hutchings, a member of GaHIN's Board of Directors, received the award for mentoring students in the Mercer University School of Medicine's Student National Medical Association (SNMA) and Mercer University's Minority Association of Pre-medical Students (MAPS). Under the leadership of Dr. Hutchings as their faculty advisor, Mercer SNMA-MAPS received the Mercer University 2018-2019 Leadership Award for Outstanding Campus Contributions.

Electronic Access to Patient Lab Results

At last month's joint DCH/GaHIN webinar, we discussed the clinical and economic value of electronic access to lab results. These include:

Speeds care delivery based on comprehensive patient information
Reduces need for duplicate testing

GaHIN is currently working to connect two of the largest lab companies in Georgia - Quest and LabCorp. Once those connections are complete, GaHIN will pursue connections with independent labs. Physicians must opt in to participate in this service.

GaHIN will house a copy of the results, allowing other physicians to access the lab reports. For example, if a specialist orders a lab test, the referring physician can view the results and incorporate it into the patient's HER records.

Georgia providers that are members of GaHIN already have the ability to electronically access lab results:

GeorgiaDirect can be used to securely transmit lab results to other physicians
Georgia ConnectedCare incorporates lab results into CCD/longitudinal patient records