etHIN chooses OptumInsight's health information exchange technology

The East Tennessee Health Information Network (etHIN) has selected OptumInsight's health information exchange (HIE) technology to help physicians, hospitals and other health care providers in the region improve patient care coordination and quality.

"Our vision is to securely connect hospitals, physicians and other health care providers with each other and to critical health information at the point of care to enable significant improvements in patient safety, health outcomes and opportunities for practice efficiencies. We feel confident that OptumInsight is the best partner to help us accomplish this," said Leigh Sterling, etHIN executive director.

etHIN is a collaborative group composed of eastern Tennessee's major health systems. The network will use the Axolotl HIE platform from OptumInsight to create a secure clinical network that connects participating physicians, hospitals, laboratory services providers and pharmacies in the region. This will enable medical professionals to access and share critical health information, including electronic medical records, to support faster, more effective clinical decision-making and coordination with other care providers.

Further, through the Axolotl HIE platform, participating physicians and hospitals will easily be able to connect to the state Health Information Partnership for Tennessee Network to coordinate patient care and access clinical data from Immunization Services, Public Health Reporting, Lab Reporting Services and other qualified organizations across the state.

"Since before etHIN was formalized in 2003, providers in our region have been working together to enable the exchange of health information to improve health care outcomes and reduce costs for our community. Our selection of OptumInsight's Axolotl HIE solution came after an in-depth evaluation and emerged as the solution that met our criteria and fit into our vision of a robust Health Information Exchange," stated Mike Ward, president of the East Tennessee Health Information Network.

"HIE technology from OptumInsight provides a secure bridge between medical professionals, improving access to information and facilitating communication between caregivers. This initiative will help reduce duplicate testing, provide safer transitions of care and reduce administrative costs," said Glenn Keet, president of Axolotl at OptumInsight.