The Georgia Regional Academic Community Health Information Exchange (GRAChIE) and Savannah-based Merit Independent Physician Association (Merit IPA) announced today an agreement in which Merit IPA member practices will interconnect electronically through GRAChIE. This arrangement will enable the secure sharing of patient information among Merit IPA’s 19 practices and more than 120 physicians. 

“The independent physicians in our community truly aspire to improve the quality of care they provide to their patients, and the timely sharing of information across an HIE is key to that goal,” said Merit IPA Executive Director Jason Crosby. “With this arrangement, our specialists will know when their patients receive treatment from an area emergency room or fellow Merit IPA member physician, and will have full care details at hand when those patients return for follow-up care. This higher level of care coordination will improve outcomes for patients and efficiencies for providers.”

Health information exchanges (HIEs) such as GRAChIE are a recent concept that enables all providers involved in a patient’s care — whether in a primary care setting, a specialist’s office or emergency department — to share vital patient information including medications, pre-existing conditions, allergies, immunizations, lab results, appointment history and more from within electronic medical records. HIEs minimize manual and often time-consuming information gathering while helping to improve care coordination and reduce adverse events, complications, hospital readmissions and duplicate tests. 

“HIEs are at the forefront of leveraging electronic health records to advance population health across a region,” said GRAChIE Executive Director Tara Broxton Cramer. “In partnering with Merit IPA, we’re working directly with independent specialists to improve care delivery by streamlining community and information sharing between multiple independent providers.”