CINCINNATI, Ohio — Nonprofit health information exchange HealthBridge has received a $1.4 million contract from the Social Security Administration to provide electronic medical records to the government agency.
In addition, Dayton’s Center for Healthy Communities received a $999,000 grant as part of the same project.
The Social Security Administration will use the technology to help it process disability applications. To process the applications, the agency currently sends more than 15 million requests annually for medical records to health care providers, according to Michael Astrue, commissioner of social security.
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“This largely paper-bound workload is generally the most time-consuming part of the disability decision process,” Astrue said. “The use of health IT will dramatically improve the speed, accuracy and efficiency of this process.”
The agency awarded a total of $17.4 million to 15 companies for the electronic medical records project. The funds were made available as part of the federal stimulus bill, which was passed a year ago.
HealthBridge provides technology to connect 29 Cincinnati-area hospitals, 17 health departments, more than 4,400 physicians and a number of nursing homes, clinics and physician offices.
Health systems that are part of HealthBridge’s network include: Mercy Health Partners, St. Elizabeth Healthcare, the Health Alliance, Christ Hospital, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, TriHealth, Deaconess Hospital, McCullough-Hyde Memorial Hospital, Adams County Hospital and Margaret Mary Community Hospital.
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Dayton’s Center for Community Health is a division of Wright State University’s school of medicine. The group’s information exchange, called HealthLink, is a database of patient information that can be shared by various participating health providers.