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Case study Company name: Western North Carolina Health Network (WNCHN)
The Western North Carolina Health Network (WNCHN) provides faster, better patient treatment when it engages IBM Global Business Services to implement an electronic healthcare record exchange system that integrates existing records systems and creates "virtual" healthcare records, enabling the sharing of patient data across hospitals in the network. |
Business need WNCHN sought a way to implement its vision of the availability and exchange of patient data anywhere, anytime, to healthcare providers in its 16 hospitals. WNCHN needed a solution that would allow the decentralized creation and retrieval of electronic patient records and enable their exchange among facilities, and one which would integrate with existing health information systems, rather than replacing them. |
Solution WNCHN engaged IBM Global Business Services, IBM e-Business Hosting and AccessPt Software to design and implement an electronic healthcare record (EHR) exchange system. The system, called Data Link, allows authorized clinicians to view a patient's electronic records across all 16 WNC hospital systems. Data Link differs from many EHR exchange systems in that it is based on an innovative "virtual" records system that uses the data from hospitals' existing records systems instead of creating a new, centralized system for the Network. |
Results WNCHN expects the IBM solution to provide the following benefits: - Improved patient care through reduced medical errors and unnecessary treatments
- Reduced overall costs through the reduction of duplicate lab tests, an improvement of data entry and document management, as well as a reduction in human error
- Faster patient records retrieval — from up to 30 minutes to mere seconds, and better security of medical records
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Customer testimonial "For several years, WNCHN has been exploring the exchange of electronic medical records. IBM and AccessPt have finally made it happen, quickly and securely, without replacing our existing record systems." Gary Bowers, Executive Director, Western North Carolina Healthcare Network |
Customer information | Western North Carolina Health Network (WNCHN) | | The Western North Carolina Health Network (WNCHN) is a collaboration of hospitals, county health departments, Mountain AHEC and other healthcare providers that supports the delivery of cost-effective, quality health services to the Western North Carolina (WNC) region. The network's members include Angel Medical Center, CarePartners, Cherokee Indian Hospital, Harris Regional Medical Center, Haywood Regional Medical Center, Highlands-Cashiers Hospital, the McDowell Hospital, Mission Hospitals, Murphy Medical Center, Pardee Memorial Hospital, Park Ridge Hospital, Rutherford Hospital, Spruce Pine Community Hospital, St. Luke's Hospital, Swain County Hospital and Transylvania Community Hospital. |
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