TACOMA, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 31, 2006--Three nationally recognized leaders in health information technology, Northwest Physicians Network (NPN) of Tacoma, and St. Luke's Health System of Boise, supported by Siemens Medical Solutions, have teamed up to create a multi-state health information network to facilitate the exchange of clinical health data across significant distances. The "Northwest Health Information Network (NWHIN)," dubbed "The Network," is a collaborative, regional approach to bettering patient care and eliminating waste in the system. Its development is progressing within the context of federal efforts to link up providers and patients across the country.

The primary goal of The Network is to ensure patients and providers in the Northwest have access to secure, electronic patient information at the right time and the right place, regardless of location or health situation. While many area health providers have begun to transition to electronic medical records, few efforts have been made to make those records interoperable between providers, or across communities. The Network will do just that - connecting existing electronic health information infrastructures to create a regional interoperable framework of information. This framework will "push" clinical information from multiple sources to one point, when the patient or provider needs it most.

"Patient care requires the right information at the right time at the right place," said Dr. Rick MacCornack, Ph.D., Director of Quality Improvement at NPN. "Right now, if a patient is in the emergency room with chest pains, that ER needs to get faxes, printouts, and old charts from each of the patient's health providers before proper care can be delivered. This new project will eliminate all of that - the patient's history and clinical information will be immediately accessible online to both the patient and provider - whether the ER is in Tacoma, Boise or, soon, points in between."
NPN, which is the largest delegated network of independent, "main street" doctors in the Northwest, has been using Siemens Soarian(R) Community Access since 2004. The system is used to connect physicians throughout the south Puget Sound area to one another, their patients, and to community partners who generate clinical information on patients. Participation is free to patients and costs the provider less than $40 per month. Access requires only a broadband Internet connection rather than elaborate software packages. To date, more than 200 providers are participating; half are primary care physicians and half are specialty care providers. More than 70,000 online communications have been generated since the project's inception and 150 patients in the community are currently registered users.

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