Plainfield Health Center begins receiving data from Vermont exchange network

The Health Center, a federally qualified health center located in Plainfield, Vt, has recently installed a Vermont Information Technology Leaders (VITL) interface to begin receiving lab test results through Vermont’s health information exchange network.
With this connection, treating physicians who have ordered tests for their patients at Central Vermont Medical Center and other local hospitals now have faster and secure electronic access to those results. The Health Center provides care to approximately 13,500 patients.
‘Having labs electronically populate our records benefits our providers with the quick turnaround time from ordering a lab to receiving a result, having that result available in the patient’s chart as soon as the result arrives, and having lab values automatically populate our visit templates. There is also a benefit in being able to analyze lab data for particular patient populations to pursue quality improvement efforts,’said Don Grabowski, outreach coordinator, The Health Center. ‘Having electronic lab results will support us in providing an even higher quality of care resulting in improved outcomes for our patients and improved control of costs.’
Building these types of interfaces with VITL enables health care providers with electronic health record (EHR) systems, such as The Health Center, to send and receive patient data across different health care organizations, resulting in improved care delivery and enhanced patient safety and outcomes. To date, VITL has built more than 350 interfaces to health care organizations.
‘By receiving a patient’s lab results in electronic format from VITL soon after the results are filed in the lab’s information system, health care providers at The Health Center will be able to inform their patients more quickly of the test results,’said John K. Evans, president and CEO of VITL. ‘We continue to accelerate the deployment of interfaces with health care organizations across the state, as building out the health information exchange network is critical to the success of Vermont’s health care reform efforts.’