Laboratory providing data for currentcare

PROVIDENCE – Patient data is now flowing from the offices of East Side Clinical Laboratory Inc., into currentcare, a secure electronic system that forms the basis of the Rhode Island’s health information exchange.
As a result of East Side Clinical Laboratory’s participation, diagnostic test results of their enrolled patients are now being sent directly to currentcare.
In total, East Side Clinical Laboratory serves about 240,000 unique patients with about 900,000 annual patient encounters.
The new electronic data hookup represents another milestone for the efforts of the Rhode Island Quality Institute to establish the statewide health information exchange. To date, about 140,000 Rhode Islanders have enrolled in currentcare.
In addition to East Side Clinical Laboratory, Lifespan, Care New England, South County Hospital, Blackstone Valley Community Health Center, Quest Diagnostics and Surescripts have signed agreements to submit consented patient information to currentcare in the very near future, according to Laura Adams, president and CEO of the Rhode Island Quality Institute.
Adams praised the participation of East Side Clinical Laboratory, saying that they had been a dedicated partner in this statewide effort. “As a result of their understanding of the importance of currentcare, their patients will be among the first to benefit,” she said.
Adams said she not yet predict exactly when the entire health information exchange would be fully operational. “We are getting much closer,” she said.
Adams said that the Rhode Island Primary Care Physicians group in Cranston has developed a standardized continuity of care document, with 17 different data elements in it, which she said will serve as an important tool as physicians’ practices link together through currentcare.