Oakland Physician Network Services to Participate With Michigan Health Connect
GRAND RAPIDS -- Michigan Health Connect announced that Waterford Township-based Oakland Physician Network Services has decided to extend MHC's health information exchange systems to its physician membership.
This participation will further enhance care quality and coordination that OPNS physicians provide to their patients, and meet core requirements associated with Patient Centered Medical Home designation as well as the evolving Meaningful Use guidelines.
"Providing timely, accurate, patient information in a HIPAA compliant manner will help clinicians understand their patients' medical history and make more informed decisions on their health care needs," said Rodger Prong, OPNS Executive Director. "Other expected benefits include improved patient safety and outcomes, and better cost management. The HIE has truly reached a tipping point driven largely by changes introduced in healthcare reform that envision a seamless, robust, standards-based HIE like MHC being critical to provide the kind of cost effective quality care that is necessary for the future."
Participating with MHC will allow OPNS to further enhance the adoption of electronic tools and connectivity across its 252 multi-specialty office locations while remaining intimately connected to the larger Michigan healthcare eco-system wherever their patients decide to go -- from St. Joseph to Petoskey, Port Huron to Grand Rapids.
It isn't about electronic tools for their own sake. Optimal care delivery and coordination is extremely challenging in today's paper-phone-fax-based environment. Expanding use of electronic medical record systems, registries, e-Prescribing, referrals and other solutions across OPNS offices, which are then integrated through the MHC HIE to other OPNS offices, hospitals, long-term care facilities, regional labs, State of Michigan and other community healthcare partners with which it works, will lay the foundation for delivering the quality of patient care OPNS is committed to deliver.
Said Doug Dietzman, MHC Executive Director: "OPNS is intently focused on optimizing the care coordination and quality to its patients while maximizing support to its physicians. I look forward to working closely with OPNS to help achieve those objectives on behalf of the residents in southeast Michigan."
MHC continues to grow and expand value-added services to members. It recently announced the launch of its Referral solution to all providers across the state who participate with MHC. It makes it possible to send, receive and manage electronic referrals in their office with any other provider in the MHC network.
Michigan Health Connect is a nonprofit corporation founded to advance the delivery and coordination of patient-focused health care across the state of Michigan as well as to encourage the adoption of EMR systems in provider offices and facilitate their meaningful use.
Now composed of 49 member hospitals, MHC is the largest clinical messaging exchange in Michigan having connected over 700 provider offices and over 2,800 providers with a combination of electronic results delivery, laboratory ordering, radiology ordering, and referrals management solutions either directly from the provider's EMR system or MHC tools for paper-based offices. These exchange tools are available to community providers at no cost as a result of the support and investment of the participating member organizations.
Current charter members include Ascension Health, Beaumont Hospitals, Lakeland Health System, McLaren Health Care, Metro Health, Northern Michigan Regional Health System, Spectrum Health, and Trinity Health. For more information, please visit www.michiganhealthconnect.org.
Oakland Physician Network Services Inc. is an independent physician owned and operated corporation comprised of over 425 primary care and specialty physicians. From its location in Oakland County, OPNS serves the medical community by centrally maintaining the infrastructure to support best practices in medical management, office management, and database management. It provides financial and quality analysis and reporting services that assist member physicians in delivering higher quality care and managing costs for more than 15 healthcare plans.
