Michigan Department of Community Health and Michigan Health Connect go live with Public Health Reporting through MiHIN

Lansing,  MI, May 8, 2012–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The Michigan Department of Community Health, Michigan Health Connect, and Michigan Health Information Network (MiHIN) have activated real-time electronic reporting of public health information to the State of Michigan using the Michigan model of a network of networks. This initiative allows secure, transaction-based routing of child and adult immunization records from Michigan Health Connect hospitals and physicians to the State’s Michigan Care Improvement Registry (MCIR) through MiHIN. In addition, Michigan Health Connect members can send electronic lab reports to the Michigan Disease Surveillance System (MDSS).

This milestone sets a new standard in Michigan for the automatic feed of health information to State repositories and for Meaningful Use. “Having the MiHIN connected to the Michigan Health Connect is a significant step forward for the public health community,” said Olga Dazzo, Director of the Michigan Department of Community Health. “Not only will this tool better integrate patient care across systems, but it will allow the State of Michigan to see trends in public health with more extensive data than before.”

These activities are a direct result of the cooperation between Michigan Department of Community Health, the Department of Technology, Management, and Budget, Grand Rapids-based Michigan Health Connect, and the East Lansing-based Michigan Health Information Network (MiHIN) and will result in better patient experiences and improved quality healthcare. “We would like to thank Director Dazzo and Tim Pletcher of MiHIN for the early involvement with Michigan Health Connect; its participating hospitals, physicians and their care teams, and, more importantly, our patients across the great State of Michigan.” said Doug Dietzman, MHC Executive Director.

The ultimate joint goal for this collaborative effort is to provide the highest quality records at the point of care and value-added services that save time and resources – in this case, resources devoted to replace antiqued manual data entry. “This is a great example of collaboration between the Michigan Department of Community Health, Michigan Health Connect, and the Michigan Health Information Network – we know that the safe and secure exchange of health information will improve patient outcomes,” said Tim Pletcher, Executive Director of the Michigan Health Information Network Shared Services.

About Michigan Department of Community Health

MDCH Mission will protect, preserve, and promote the health and safety of the people of Michigan with particular attention to providing for the needs of vulnerable and under-served populations.

MDCH Vision is for Michiganders to be healthy, productive individuals, living in communities that support health and wellness, with ready access to an affordable, person-centered and community-based system of care.

About Michigan Health Connect

Now composed of 53 member hospitals, MHC is the largest clinical messaging exchange in Michigan having connected over 920 provider offices and over 3,500 providers with a combination of electronic results delivery, laboratory ordering, radiology ordering, referrals management, and virtual integrated patient record solutions either directly from the provider’s EMR system or MHC tools for paper-based offices. These exchange tools are available to community providers at no cost as a result of the support and investment of the participating member organizations. For more information, please visitwww.michiganhealthconnect.org.

About Michigan Health Information Network Shared Services (www.mihin.org)

MiHIN, also known as MiHIN Shared Services (MiHINSS), is a Michigan nonprofit entity, functioning as a public and private collaboration dedicated to improving the healthcare experience, increasing quality and decreasing cost for Michigan’s people by supporting the statewide exchange of health information and making accurate and timely health care data available at the point of care. MiHIN’s Health Information Exchange Platform is the official state designated infrastructure for health information exchange across Michigan and the future integration with the Nationwide Health Information Network (NwHIN).