Stewart: New Mexico’s Health Information Exchange plays significant role in modern health care

The average individual sees four health care providers per year, typically requiring the sharing of medical records between these facilities to successfully provide care to the individual. In most instances, the patient is asked to carry paper records between their health care providers.

Optimal decision-making to care for patients requires a more efficient and timely exchange of health data between the different health care providers an individual may see in a year. This is where a Health Information Exchange, or HIE, helps — taking electronic records from each individual hospital or doctor’s office and securely sharing the date between the different health care providers through the HIE. Data is shared using national interoperability standards and security.

An HIE allows health care providers from different organizations to securely access and share patient medical records, support improved care at the point of care, provide care coordination when patients are referred to another provide, enhance patient safety by providing a comprehensive view of a patient’s health history across various health care settings, as well as improve public health surveillance.

New Mexico’s designated HIE, SYNCRONYS, is a New Mexico not-for-profit organization, providing support to health care providers, hospitals, state agencies and managed care organizations statewide. Most states have an HIE and some with larger populations have multiple HIEs.

New Mexico significantly invested in its HIE in 2019 supported with state and federal HITECH funds. The work to build the enhanced HIE with SYNCRONYS was completed in September 2021.

The last decade has witnessed tremendous digital transformation in every sector, including health care.

Nationally, the framework to build the health information infrastructure to exchange data began in 2004 when then-President George W. Bush signed an executive order establishing the Office of the National Coordinator, or ONC. The goal of the ONC was to develop standards and technology to transition medical records from paper charts to electronic health records, or EHR.

In 2009, then-President Barack Obama signed the HITECH Act, and the Meaningful Use program began in 2011.

By 2014, more than 95% of hospitals and 75% of ambulatory physician practices adopted EHRs, allowing for efficient sharing of patient information within individual hospitals and physician offices.

Health care organizations connected to SYNCRONYS can find and retrieve their patient information with near-instantaneous access. With the rising cost of health care and shortage of professionals, easy and efficient access to health information is critical to care for New Mexicans.

SYNCRONYS was designed around three pillars: to make health information available at the point of care; offer care management solutions to improve population health and quality and to provide access to a unique blend of health and demographic data to inform community programs and strategic planning.

At point-of-care SYNCRONYS:

• Provides data aggregation from diverse EHRs, laboratories, imaging centers and prescriptions into a centralized repository accessible to authorized health care providers.
• Allows clinicians to make informed decisions at the point of care, reducing unnecessary tests and procedures due to access to potentially duplicative procedures.
• Coordinates communication between providers involved in a patient’s care, allowing them to collaborate on a treatment plan, share progress and identify potential medication interactions.

To support population health, SYNCRONYS is used to analyze aggregated health data across a population, enabling both health care providers and public health officials to identify trends, target interventions and monitor disease outbreaks.

Policymakers and programs can use aggregated health-related data to identify gaps in services to develop and implement programs to support individual populations and areas of the state to improve health outcomes. Priority programs and initiatives SYNCRONYS currently supports in New Mexico are behavioral health, prenatal health care and the treatment of Hepatitis C.

The benefits SYNCRONYS provides to the medical community and patients are improved quality of care, cost reduction and an efficiency. SYNCRONYS provides a complete picture of a patient’s health history, a more accurate diagnoses is made and potential health risks may be identified.

The use of the HIE can reduce redundant tests that are often paid out of pocket by the patient. With the shift of costs to patients with high deductible plans this is important to individuals, as well as the time and stress of potentially unnecessary procedures. The use of the HIE also improves the efficiency of a medical practice, as records from outside of their facility are obtained from the HIE central repository, no longer requiring phone calls to fax records.

SYNCRONYS, as New Mexico’s HIE, plays a significant role in modern health care, enabling the secure sharing of medical information, leading to improved quality of care, enhanced patient safety and more efficient health care delivery.

We are committed to data privacy and security, ensuring patient data is protected through robust security measures and compliance with privacy regulations. Exchanging data through SYNCRONYS is aligned with HIPAA and the New Mexico Medical Record Act.

SYNCRONYS is committed to being the trusted information resource to support improved health and quality of life in New Mexico.