Clinica Family Health Services’ World-Class Care Is About to Get Even Better Through Participation in the CORHIO HIE

DENVER, Colo. – October 17, 2012 – CORHIO, the Colorado Regional Health Information Organization, announced today that Clinica Family Health Services, a community health center serving a low-income population, has signed a contract to join its health information exchange (HIE) network. The center, known locally as “Clinica,” has five patient care locations across Boulder and Adams Counties in Colorado, and serves more nearly 40,000 patients each year.
Known around the country for being a “star clinic” and providing efficient, low-cost care for the underserved community, Clinica was featured by the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine, as well as by PBS NewsHour. Clinica uses a patient-centered medical home care model and provides one location for its patients to not only see providers, but also fill prescriptions and even see a dentist. The clinic received the highest level of recognition by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) Patient-Centered Medical Home™ program for its success in organizing care around patients, working in teams, and coordinating and tracking care over time.

“Technology has played an integral role in helping us improve patient health outcomes and transforming primary care delivery,” said Dr. Carolyn Shepherd, Clinica’s medical director. “Since 2006, all of our locations have shared an electronic health record (EHR) system. We use data collected through our EHR for the management of preventative health care as well as chronic conditions and diseases, such as diabetes and asthma. By capturing and monitoring population health data, Clinica can provide better care for the community as a whole.”

“CORHIO’s network will significantly expand our access to health data across the wider community where our patients access care,” added Dr. Shepherd. “Having this complete view of the care our patients receive across the continuum will show us where we can

better help them as they move through these systems. This functionality is the core of developing accountable care.”
Clinica participates in the Independent Physician Network (iPN) based out of Avista Hospital in Boulder County that also recently signed an agreement with CORHIO.

By connecting to the HIE, Clinica Family Health Services’ providers will able to seamlessly and electronically access clinical data across disparate systems outside of their network—including Boulder Community Hospital, all of Centura Health’s hospitals, Longmont United Hospital, and other health care providers in the region. CORHIO provides physicians and other medical care providers with access to patient information, including lab test and pathology results, x-ray, MRI and other imaging reports, and physician transcription reports. In the future, the HIE is scheduled to be upgraded to include additional data types and functionality.

“We are thrilled to add Clinica to the CORHIO health information exchange network,” said Larry Wolk, MD, chief executive officer of CORHIO. “One of CORHIO’s core values is to support the safety net community. We believe that low-income and underserved Coloradans deserve the opportunity to benefit from improved care coordination and patient safety that’s enabled by health information exchange.”

About CORHIO
CORHIO is dedicated to improving health care quality for all Coloradans through health information exchange (HIE). As the state designated entity for HIE, CORHIO collaborates with health care stakeholders including physicians, hospitals, clinics, public health, long-term care, laboratories, health plans and patients to improve care collaboration through secure systems and processes for sharing clinical information. CO-REC, a CORHIO initiative, assists primary care providers in adopting, implementing and becoming meaningful users of electronic health record (EHR) systems. CORHIO is a not-for-profit supported in large part by grants, including awards from the Colorado Health Foundation and from federal ARRA HITECH funds. CORHIO’s technical infrastructure is built on industry-leading HIE technology developed and maintained by Medicity. For more information about CORHIO, please visit www.corhio.org.

About Clinica Family Health Services
Clinica Family Health Services is a community health center that has, for the past 35 years, provided high-quality medical care to low-income, uninsured people. We offer primary and preventive medical care that emphasizes health education. Our service area encompasses the area immediately to the north of the Denver metropolitan region. It reaches from the Continental Divide in Boulder County, through Broomfield County, to Thornton in Adams County. For more information, visit www.clinica.org.
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