Advocate Health Care deploys Fusionfx physician portal

More than 5,000 physicians at Advocate Health Care, the largest fully integrated not-for-profit healthcare delivery system in Illinois, will have streamlined access to patient information across Advocate's 11 Chicago-area hospitals with the implementation of Fusionfx,  a portal-based workflow solution from Carefx Corporation.

One of the nation's top 10 health systems in clinical performance and designated "Most Wired" by Hospitals and Health Networks, Advocate is deploying the Fusionfx physician portal at the recently acquired Condell Medical Center in Libertyville, IL.  Scheduled to go live in October, Fusionfx will also help streamline Condell's hospital-wide transition from McKesson Horizon to Cerner, the Advocate-endorsed system, internally branded "Care Connection."  

"Providing simplified access to a unified view of patient data will support Advocate's enterprise-wide approach to health information exchange," said Andrew Hurd, Chairman and CEO of Carefx.  "It is a privilege to be working with the progressive team at Advocate and we look forward to helping that team in their mission to improve care quality through the meaningful access and use of clinical information."  

"The functionalities of the physician portal Carefx is deploying at Condell will serve as a model for other Advocate hospitals.  It also will be the centerpiece of our broader enterprise-wide portal capable of serving all clinicians and healthcare business professionals at Advocate – from pharmacists and radiologists, to practice directors and accountants," said Mike Delahanty, Advocate's Vice President of Applications.  "As health information exchanges (HIEs) evolve and gain greater acceptance in the Chicago area, Advocate will be well positioned to provide leadership in health data sharing and exchange."  

The physician portal is the second collaboration between Advocate and Carefx.  In April 2010, Carefx deployed an obstetrics portal at Advocate's Illinois Masonic Medical Center (IMMC).  The obstetrics portal provides an aggregate view of information housed in the Cerner EMR and Phillips OB TraceVue. Having immediate access to a unified view of mother/baby records minimizes errors and ensures the safety of more than 3,600 mothers who deliver their babies at IMMC each year.