BLUE BELL, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Halfpenny Technologies, Inc., a leading provider of clinical data exchange solutions, announced today that the Georgia Health Information Technology Regional Extension Center (GA-HITREC) has selected Halfpenny to develop a lab hub demonstration project that will enable seamless, secure and efficient exchange of clinical data for GA-HITREC members in support of Georgia’s statewide health information exchange (HIE) deployment initiative.
GA-HITREC was established to assist providers within Georgia with the selection, implementation and meaningful use demonstration of certified EHR systems to enhance clinical outcomes and improve care delivery. The program, funded by a $19.5 million award from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) REC healthcare grant program and administered by National Center for Primary Care (NCPC) at Morehouse School of Medicine, combines a community-oriented approach with a patient-centered medical home model to eliminate disparate gaps in healthcare throughout Georgia – with a specific focus on underserved communities.
“The ability to accurately and efficiently exchange laboratory orders and results is crucial to ensuring quality care, especially for primary care physicians, who must diagnose and treat a large variety of medical issues within their communities,” said Dominic Mack, MD, MBA, director of GA-HITREC and deputy director of the National Center for Primary Care. “Utilizing a vendor neutral lab hub will not only streamline clinical data exchange for GA-HITREC members but also enable them to meet lab-specific meaningful use certification requirements for physician EMR adoption, including CPOE, structured results reporting and quality reporting. We are pleased to be partnering with Halfpenny Technologies in supporting providers in Georgia as they implement new health information technologies.”
Halfpenny Technologies will work closely with GA-HITREC to deploy its lab and EMR vendor-neutral lab hub, which will initially be available for use by a selected group of the GA-HITREC’s constituents, including Solstas Laboratories, which has recently acquired Doctor’s Laboratory in Valdosta, GA. LabCorp has also indicated that it will participate, along with other hospitals and physicians across the state.
“The agreement with GA-HITREC to develop a lab hub demonstration project will allow healthcare providers throughout Georgia to seamlessly and securely exchange clinical data in real time,” said Jerry Baker, president and CEO of Halfpenny Technologies. “In addition to accelerating the timetables for physicians to achieve meaningful use, this collaboration will establish the basis for normalized, aggregated data for care management, disease management, pay for performance and population of Personal Health Records (PHRs).”
With LabCorp and Solstas already interfaced to the Halfpenny Hub, the GA-HITREC lab hub is expected to be operational within 30 days and the demonstration project to be completed within six months. If the demo project is successful, it is anticipated that the lab hub model will be expanded to a statewide initiative.
About GA-HITREC
GA-HITREC’s mission is to use a community-oriented approach to assist Georgia’s providers with the selection, successful implementation, and meaningful use demonstration of certified EHR systems to improve clinical outcomes and quality of care provided to their patients. Established through a grant award with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, GA-HITREC’s evaluation and technical services are available (at no cost) to physicians (MD and DO), nurse practitioners, and physician assistants in family practice, obstetrics, internal medicine, and pediatrics. In addition, through the establishment of its exclusive Group Purchasing Plans with a wide range of vendors, all providers within the state of Georgia have access to significant discounts on EMR systems and related product and services. To learn more about GA-HITREC, call 877-658-1990 or visit www.ga-hitrec.org.
About Halfpenny Technologies, Inc.
Halfpenny Technologies is a leading provider of clinical data exchange solutions, enabling hospitals and laboratories to integrate with disparate physician EMR systems. Halfpenny’s SaaS-based ITF-Hub provides a reliable, secure platform to exchange clinical, financial and administrative data while reducing complexity and costs. Additionally, consolidated streams of LOINC mapped data can be routed to constituents for other initiatives, including HIE, ACO, HEDIS, PQRI and health plan reporting. ITF-Portal is a Web-based order entry and results reporting system to rapidly search and retrieve various clinical reports. ITF-GoDoc is a mobile application to access laboratory, pathology, radiology and other clinical results reports securely. ITF-GoDoc MobileOE is a mobile CPOE system for secure billing information, ask-at-order entry questions, specimen types and medical necessity compliance. To learn more, call 855-277-9100 or visit www.halfpenny.com.