LYNNE JETER

By the end of 2007, Orlando healthcare providers will be able to access patient records from multiple payers with a few simple keystrokes.

Humana and BlueCross BlueShield of Florida (BCBSF) announced plans in May to deploy statewide the nation’s first multiple payer electronic health record (EHR), the Availity Care Profile (ACP), which provides a consolidated view of patients’ healthcare services from physicians and providers.

In Tampa Bay, where the roll-out first began, nearly 400 healthcare provider sites have access to the ACP, which improves patient safety, eliminates duplicate medical procedures and facilitates the reduction of unnecessary services and fraud.

“We’re very excited about the value the Availity Care Profile can add in improving the quality and affordability of healthcare,” said Catherine Peper, vice president of health information technology for Jacksonville-based BCBSF, the state’s largest health insurer. “The enthusiastic feedback we’re hearing from the marketplace is extremely encouraging. Our network of physicians and members understand the advantages of the ACP. It improves the physician-patient experience by allowing members and physicians to make better informed healthcare decisions.”

With the ominous threat of hurricanes through late September, Peper noted the ACP should bring peace of mind to Floridians concerned about having adequate back-up medical information following a catastrophic event.

“They would know that a robust view of the medications they’re using and the physicians they see is available to authorized Availity users anytime and anywhere,” Peper pointed out. “We hope other payers in Florida will join us in offering this valuable information to Florida physicians.”

Humana and BCBSF, together serving more than nine million Floridians, or roughly two of every five insured state residents, are expanding the program to Gainesville, Jacksonville, Miami and Tallahassee.

“Orlando will definitely be active by year-end,” said Mitch Lubitz, southeast media relations manager for Louisville, Ky.-based Humana (NYSE: HUM), one of the nation’s largest publicly traded health benefits companies, serving 11.3 million. In Florida, Humana is the state’s largest Medicare health benefits provider, serving more than 500,000 Medicare members.

The ACP is delivered through Availity, LLC, a healthcare information exchange, in partnership with BCBSF and Humana. Availity has long been used as an electronic billing system for healthcare providers. By turning administrative information—physicians seen, procedures ordered, tests run, and medications prescribed for the patient--into “portable” medical records it “gives us an opportunity to fill the gaps until we have a full introduction of electronic medical records,” said Lisa Rawlins, director of the Florida Center for Health Information and Policy Analysis and executive director of the governor’s Health Information Infrastructure Advisory Board.

Even though no dollar estimates have been given, the launch of the ACP promises to result in greater cost efficiencies and significant overall savings to the Florida healthcare industry.

Joining the system is free for health insurers and their members. Individuals may choose whether or not to have an internet-based medical record. Dr. Carmella Sebastian, medical director for Humana’s Central and North Florida market, believes most people will opt in because of its value. The ability to check “every test, every prescription you’ve filled for the past 18 months is incredibly helpful,” she added.

Point-of-Care Partners, a consortium of independent general management and marketing health information technology consultants, recently evaluated the success of the ACP pilot, interviewing and surveying pilot users and focusing on the ACP’s role in the emerging landscape of health information exchange services, its value factor to physicians using the service, and whether BCBSF and Humana should further invest in the ACP to increase its value to physicians. Point-of-Care also studied whether to accelerate adoption and generate benefits for payers.

Point-of-Care concluded that payer-sourced health records serve a vital, strategic role, and that consumers, employers, physicians and payers all benefit from the value delivered by the ACP. “The use of ACP led to a time savings of three to six minutes on patient assessments, leading to more productive and efficient encounters with commensurate cost savings,” said Lubitz.

Also, Lubitz noted, a general opinion exists that relying solely on provider-sourced EMRs as the source of information for a comprehensive, longitudinal electronic health record is impractical. “Current adoption rates of EMR systems remain low, suggesting physicians will need alternative sources of electronic health information, and the ACP complements the EMR in those practices that have one,” he said.

Bruce J. Goodman, chief service and information officer for Humana, said expansion of this service provides clinically relevant information at the point of care to more physicians and their patients.

“We see this as an important and valuable step in improving the exchange of health information and our members’ experience,” he said.

Rawlins said payer-sourced EHRs are an important component in the public-private partnership that is contributing to the growth and development of the Florida Health Information Network (FHIN) initiative.

“One of the key goals of the FHIN and its partner Regional Health Information Network Organizations is the integration of provider and payer electronic health records to create a patient-centric medical record for clinician use at the point of care,” she said.


July 2007