The Network, Arizona’s statewide health information exchange (HIE) operated by Arizona Health-e Connection (AzHeC), reached and surpassed the milestone of 100 participants this week as it welcomed the integrated health care provider Bayless Healthcare Group as its 100^th participant.

The Network has seen a strong surge in participation this year, growing from 33 participants in April 2015 to more than 100 participants today. Melissa Kotrys, CEO of AzHeC, lists several factors that have contributed to this rapid growth, including a commitment by hospitals in the state to share information and improve care coordination with community providers and a decision by AzHeC Board of Directors this past year to eliminate Network participation fees for community providers. In addition, this week the Network Leadership Council extended the elimination of participation fees to long-term care, post-acute care, home health and hospice providers, she added.

“At Bayless Healthcare, our commitment is to care for the whole patient and the whole family…”
Justin Bayless, CEO, Bayless Healthcare Group

“We’re pleased that today our hospital participants represent more than 70% of the inpatient and emergency room discharges in the state, and we believe that encouraging the participation of Community providers will improve the coordination of patient care throughout the state,” Kotrys said. An additional driver to the increase in participation of community providers, according to Kotrys, was the recent AzHeC Board approval and launch of a statewide strategy to integrate physical and behavioral health information in The Network. At a time of increased collaboration of medical and behavioral health providers to integrate their services, it makes sense to integrate physical and behavioral health information in one statewide Network, according to Kotrys.

>Justin Bayless, CEO of the Bayless Healthcare Group, a Phoenix-based provider of primary
pediatricric care as well as individual and family behavioral health services, sees the integrated HIE as a significant improvement to provider communication and patient care coordination. “At Bayless Healthcare, our commitment is to care for the whole patient and the whole family, and we are pleased to join a statewide network that can provide access
to both medical and behavioral information,” he said.

Since The Network launched its integrated physical and behavioral health HIE in early February, The Network has seen a significant number of behavioral health care providers join The Network. A current list of Network participants is available here. For questions or more information on The Network please contact a Network representative at (602) 688-7200 or thenetwork@azhec.org.