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PRESS RELEASE

Contact:
Jenny Siminski
Office: (317) 644-1724 Cell: (317) 213-5466
E-mail: jsiminski@ihie.org

Community Health Network and the Indiana Health Information Exchange announce new functionality to popular clinical messaging service
Community physicians now receive clinical results via electronic health record

INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana (July 12, 2007) – Community Health Network (Community) and the Indiana Health Information Exchange (IHIE) today announced that IHIE's DOCS4DOCS® service is now delivering clinical results directly into Community physician electronic health records (EHR).

This new functionality means that in addition to receiving results via the secure, Web-based service, Community physicians who have an EHR receive this information directly into their system.

Last week, IHIE and Community successfully tested this new functionality with Community's EHR vendor in three different practices. Practices will continue to be added over the coming months.

"We know patient care doesn't just happen in one hospital or hospital system," says Harry Laws, M.D., chief medical officer of Community Physicians of Indiana (CPI), part of Community Health Network. "These enhancements collect the test data, regardless of where they are performed, and put them in front of the quarterback, our primary care physicians, who are responsible for keeping track of their patient's care. It saves time in the office, time for the patients and makes the whole process more effective."

In addition to the EHR vendor used within the Community system, IHIE has been testing interoperability with ten other EHR vendors, and is in discussions to test with others. IHIE anticipates rolling out this functionality to other hospital systems in Indiana.

An electronic medical record is a system which keeps track of relevant medical information. EHR use rates hover around 10 to 15 percent nationally. That number is slightly higher in the Indianapolis area.

With this new functionality, IHIE is in a unique position to address the issue of interoperability, or the ability of different information technology systems and software applications to communicate and to exchange data accurately, effectively and consistently.

This issue is at the heart of the national health care discussion to establish a National Health Information Network. IHIE has been involved in feasibility assessments of this kind of nation-wide network.

"Delivering clinical results directly into an EHR is an enormous step in creating a robust and effective patient medical record," said Dr. J. Marc Overhage, President and CEO of the Indiana Health Information Exchange and Director of Medical Informatics at the Regenstrief Institute, Inc. "It saves money while improving patient care and safety."

"While Community has been electronically transferring patient results directly into the physician EHR system for years, this IHIE service provides for results from other hospitals to be delivered directly into the physician's electronic inbox and eliminates the paper copy in the office," said Ed Koschka, chief information officer of Community Health Network. "This translates into improved patient care by reducing the time it takes to interpret patient results and taking the appropriate action."

The DOCS4DOCS service replaces traditional delivery systems such as courier and postal mail. The service was developed by the Regenstrief Institute and is run in conjunction with IHIE.

As one of the nation's most respected clinical messaging services, the DOCS4DOCS service is used in 25 hospitals in Indiana, which are sending, on average, one million messages each month to approximately 5,000 Indiana physicians at 1,900 practices. This service is saving millions of dollars per year by eliminating duplicate tests and administrative costs.

In addition to Community, IHIE provides this service to other hospitals and major hospital systems in Indiana, including Clarian Health, Sisters of St. Francis Health Services, Inc., St. Vincent Health and Wishard Health Services.

About the Indiana Health Information Exchange
Indiana Health Information Exchange, Inc. (IHIE) is a non-profit corporation formed by the Regenstrief Institute, private hospitals, local and state health departments, BioCrossroads, the state's life sciences initiative, and other prominent organizations in Indiana. IHIE is the nation's most respected health information exchange organizations and one of the nation's only health information exchange organizations providing chronic disease and preventive health services (www.qualityhealthfirst.org). It is dedicated to supporting communities by providing services that enable the right medical information to get to the right provider at the right time to enhance patient care. To learn more, visit www.ihie.org.



About Community Health Network Ranked among the top 20 integrated health care networks in the nation, Community Health Network has more than 70 sites of care throughout central Indiana. This includes Community Hospitals East, North and South in Indianapolis and Community Hospital Anderson; The Indiana Heart Hospital, a dedicated heart hospital; Indiana Surgery Centers; Community Physicians of Indiana; Community Home Health Services; MedCheck urgent care centers; occupational health services; nursing homes; and other health care facilities. Community Health Network is committed to getting you well and back to your life. For more information about Community Health Network or to find a physician, call 800-777-7775 or visit eCommunity.com.

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