Health Current Releases COVID-19 Alert Enhancements, FAQs Now Available

In our effort to support the Arizona healthcare community response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Health Current, Arizona’s Health Information Exchange (HIE), recently launched COVID-19 Alerts, real-time alerts on all COVID-19 lab results received by the HIE. Today we are announcing new enhancements to the COVID-19 Alerts service as well as new COVID-19 frequently asked questions (FAQs).

The community response has been positive, and interest strong with approximately 135 Participants signing up to receive COVID-19 Alerts and support. Here’s just one example of how Participants are using the alerts to be better prepared during the epidemic:

 

We have now entered the next phase of COVID-19 Alerts enhancements. Effective today, Participants have new options for the type of alert they can receive, and the frequency in which the alerts are delivered.

Types of Alerts – Participants can now choose to receive one of two types of COVID-19 Alerts:

• For both positive and negative lab results
• For positive lab results only

Frequency of Delivery – Participants now have two options for when to receive COVID-19 Alerts:

• Real-time results (as the results become available)
• Batch results (data aggregated and delivered at a designated time in the future, i.e. twice a day, end of day, weekly, etc.)

How to Get Started
If you are a current HIE participant, follow the instructions below. If you are not a current participant, contact recruitment@healthcurrent.org to get started.

• Determine the type of alert (positive & negative results, or positive results only) and delivery frequency (real-time or batch).
• Determine if you want to receive alerts on your existing patient panel(s) or a new one (perhaps on a vulnerable population).
• Determine who in your organization should receive the alerts. For each recipient of Real-time or Batch alerts, you must use an existing Direct secure email address or supply a new one. Note: At this time, the Batch delivery of COVID-19 Alerts is different than the secure file transfer protocol (SFTP) method used for traditional Batch alerts. An SFTP option for Batch delivery of COVID-19 Alerts will be available in the near future.
• Contact your Health Current account manager or the client support team at HIEsupport@healthcurrent.org with your patient panel and email preferences.

Who supplies the COVID-19 lab results?
The HIE currently receives all COVID-19 lab results from Sonora Quest Labs, Banner Health and a variety of other hospitals, health systems and independent laboratories. We are working with all HIE data suppliers to confirm which organizations are sending COVID-19 lab results to Health Current so that the lab results process appropriately.

Collectively, over 200 organizations supply Health Current with data on more than 97 percent of hospital inpatient admissions and emergency department visits in Arizona. Any of these data suppliers that conduct COVID-19 testing or receive COVID-19 lab results will send those results to Health Current. These results will be available via the new COVID-19 Alerts as well as through normal HIE access services, such as the HIE Portal and bidirectional HIE interfaces.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Health Current is conducting outreach to LabCorp, TGen, Mayo and any other labs or healthcare facilities that are providing COVID-19 testing to ensure HIE participant access to the most comprehensive and complete COVID-19 lab results through the single, statewide health information exchange.

COVID-19 FAQs Now Available.
Throughout the pandemic, we have received questions about our COVID-19 related services as well as whether normal processes such the Patient Rights Process have changed. These questions and more are now included in our new COVID-19 FAQs document. We will continue to update these document as we receive more inquiries.

Better data. Better care.
COVID-19 Alerts are ideal for the following healthcare professionals and functions:

• Clinical and patient-facing staff workflow – clinicians, physicians, nurses, medical assistants, care coordinators, program directors, office managers
• Care managers, population health managers
• Quality management, compliance and business continuity functions

Start receiving COVID-19 Alerts today.
If you have questions about COVID-19 Alerts or related services, contact your Health Current account manager or our client support team at HIEsupport@healthcurrent.org.