PROVIDENCE – In its decision to approve the certificate of need allowing consolidation of open heart surgery at Lifespan’s Rhode Island Hospital, the R.I. Department of Health attached the condition: all Lifespan hospitals must offer to enroll patients in the CurrentCare program, the secure transmission of data between doctors being developed by the Rhode Island Quality Institute.
The CurrentCare program is the first step in creating a statewide Health Information Exchange as an ongoing electronic database of health records, according to Laura L. Adams, president and CEO of the Rhode Island Quality Institute. The first successful transmission of secure data as part of CurrentCare was conducted Jan. 31 by Dr. Albert J. Puerini Jr. from his Cranston office to a gastroenterologist in Providence.
Seifert Systems Invests in Energy Efficiency to Strengthen Operations
For manufacturers, energy is more than just another operating expense. It plays a critical role…
Learn More
Participation by patients to enroll in CurrentCare is voluntary, according to Edward J. Quinlan, president of the Hospital Association of Rhode Island. A previous R.I. Department of Health certificate of need issued regarding CharterCARE’s Health Partners consolidation of Roger Williams Medical Center and St. Joseph Health Services of Rhode Island had also included the condition of offering CurrentCare to patients, Quinlan said. As a result, CharterCare is now a leading source of CurrentCare enrollment in Rhode Island, according to Tricia Leddy, senior policy adviser at the R.I. Department of Health.
Lifespan hopes to have the consolidated open heart surgery program at Rhode Island hospital operational by early fall of 2011, according to Gail Leach Carvelli, Lifespan spokeswoman. However, there is no specific timetable for how and when Lifespan, the state’s largest hospital system, will implement the CurrentCare program.
Carvelli explained that Lifespan has signed a contract with the Quality Institute to be a data-sharing partner. “As part of that contract, we are working with the Quality Institute to begin testing the CurrentCare system by sending lab results,” Carvelli said. Carvelli did not respond to the question whether there would be a need to change patient authorization forms at all of Lifespan’s hospitals to comply with the new condition.
In addition to offering CurrentCare to its patients, other conditions attached to the approval of the certificate of need were that Lifespan must report, within six months, the current race, ethnicity and gender distribution of all open heart surgery patients. In addition, Rhode Island Hospital must report annually on the utilization data of its cardiology clinic.
“We also want to ensure that all Rhode Islanders, including those who are low income or uninsured, continue to have access to this life-saving service,” said Dr. Michael Fine, interim director at the Department of Health.
