Columbus Regional Hospital joins Indiana Network for Patient Care

Columbus Regional Hospital is bringing the nation's largest health information exchange to the Columbus, Ind. area to better serve patients. Joining over 65 hospitals, long term care facilities and other healthcare providers, Columbus Regional Hospital is now part of a statewide network that allows physicians to securely access necessary information to make decisions critical to patient care.

“We are committed to helping providers achieve improved health outcomes for their patients”

The Regenstrief Institute's Indiana Network for Patient Care (INPC) daily handles approximately 2.5 million secure transactions of clinically relevant data such as laboratory test results, medication and treatment histories, and other clinically important information in a standardized, electronic format. This information is critical to diagnoses, treatment and referral decisions and will be available to Columbus Regional Hospital healthcare providers. The INPC is supported by the Indiana Health Information Exchange (IHIE).

Columbus Regional Hospital is a 225-bed facility providing emergency and surgical services, a primary stroke center, chest pain center, lung center, heart center, cancer center, and many other specialty areas. The INPC enables Columbus Regional Hospital to be part of the nation's largest health information exchange, providing important clinical information in a standardized, electronic format.

"We want to provide the absolute best in patient care," said Diana Boyer, Columbus Regional Hospital Vice President and Chief Information Officer. "Participating in this network enables us to get a better overall picture of our patients' health. At the same time, it connects us to the healthcare community at a regional and state level, so we can all pull together and contribute to better patient health and improved safety."

IHIE connects the state's hospitals, other healthcare facilities and physicians so they can provide the safest and highest quality patient care possible, while saving time and money. This inter-connected network provides clinical information in a standardized, secure, electronic format. The information follows the patient, rather than being siloed in a physician office or a single hospital system. The network serves more than six million patients and over 19,000 physicians.

The INPC also supports services including delivering test results and reports to physicians through the DOCS4DOCS® Service and also provides a chronic disease and preventive health service through the Quality Health First® Program, offered by IHIE.

"We are committed to helping providers achieve improved health outcomes for their patients," said Dr. J. Marc Overhage, President and CEO of IHIE. He is also the Director of Medical Informatics at the Regenstrief Institute and Regenstrief Professor of Medicine at the Indiana University School of Medicine. "Part of improving outcomes involves getting information where it needs to be, when it needs to be there. This benefits patients by enabling their doctors to choose optimal therapies and avoid drug-drug interactions, among other life-saving and efficiency-generating efforts."