Christina Galanis will be attending the “Connecting Healthcare and Social Media” conference hosted by The Mayo Clinic in New York on May 16-18th.   Bringing two assistants from her staff and social media team (Crystal Kithcart and Lori Sheppard) the group will be connecting with some of New York States  engaged agencies, patient advocates, health care professionals and non-profit health associations to learn more about best practices for engaging patient “calls to action” through social media channels.

Keynote speakers scheduled for the conference include Lee Aase and Dr. Farris Timimi  (Mayo Clinic Center for Social Media), Margaret Fontana (Meridian Health Care), Dr. Mike Sevilla (Family Physician and acclaimed blog writer), Ed Bennett (University of Maryland Medical Center) and many others from various niche health care sectors and service providers.

“It will be good to share and make note of the strategic direction that health care organizations are taking with regards to communication via social media, and to establish some guidelines and best practices which encourage qualitative engagement for better delivery of informatics between patients and care agencies”  said Christina Galanis, Executive Director of Southern Tier HealthLink.

If you are not able to make it to New York to participate in the event, you can still benefit from the information sharing on Twitter with The Mayo Clinic via @nychbl.  The Twitter hash tag #hcsmny will be used for ongoing discussion over the course of the event.  The ‘tweet up’ for the event is scheduled for Wednesday May 16, at 6:30 p.m. EST.  More information on the tweet up is available by emailing: info@nychbl.com

Southern Tier HealthLink will be sharing the highlights and our insights as live updates on Twitter @nyhealthscape and with our  Southern Tier HealthLink Facebook community.  Stay tuned for photographs and reflections from the event by Crystal Kithcart and Lori Sheppard.  If you are attending the event please connect with us.  We look forward to the interesting discussion and successful case studies of social media in action for non-profit health care.

Health Information Exchange.  It is something that mainstream Americans are going to be hearing more about, but a task that Regional Health Organizations (RHIO’s) such as Southern Tier HealthLink in Binghamton New York have been assessing and implementing for sometime.    The purpose of NY HealthScape in Second Life is to create an environment where members of the Tri Cities Region (Broome, Chenango, Tioga, Delaware and Otsego) can access information about Electronic Health Information Exchange in a way that is fun, open and informative.

The vision of Executive Director Christina Galanis is to create a link between three dimension social media and learning key concepts that will help residents  grasp the benefits and rewards of enrollment in Health Information Exchange.  Health information is often received through conventional channels that take a dictatorial tone.  No one likes being lectured too and when you consider the topic (at face value) isn’t exactly the most popular subject matter for the average person, better methods can be devised to deliver the information in a more palatable manner.

Where electronic health information exchange will take New York in terms of enhancing quality care and engaging patient participation is very exiting.  But the average person will have to scratch the surface and understand the fundamentals of it before they can even begin to assess it’s benefit and be inspired to give consent to one of more than 100,000 Tri Cities residents who have already enrolled in electronic health   information exchange with Southern Tier HealthLink.

The Informed Patient

The idea of providing consent to allow your health records to be shared between primary care providers can be a concern.  There should naturally be a level of concern when it comes to your private health information.  Laws exist to protect the confidentiality of your records and to protect the patient from bias or unauthorized disclosure of personal results, diagnosis and conditions.   That information is about you and belongs to you.  That does not change within Health Information Exchange and in fact you are not given less power, but more.  Direct control over who sees your records (and for what purpose).  The permission and consent comes from the patient.   The key stakeholder is you.  But you need to understand why this process is an important one for New York and for the United States as a whole.  Moreover you need to understand how it is going to give you more peace of mind and higher quality health care when you need it the most.

You Are Invited!

If you are a resident of Broome, Chenango, Tioga, Delaware or Otsego New York and willing to learn more about the benefits of Electronic Health Information Exchange (HIE) we invite you to start by registering to explore our Patient Portal e-health collaborative  located on the Southern Tier HealthLink website (click here).

Watch a biographical video filmed virtually to help explain the concepts of Electronic Health Information Exchange.  The compelling film called “Between Worlds: A Story Of Hope”  follows a New York Mom through her discovery of cancer and the treatment modalities that were assisted by her enrollment in HIE.  The video demonstrates the “Breast Cancer Quest Home” which is one of many educational tours planned for NY HealthScape to help patients embrace HIE concepts and how it can positively impact the quality of health care received.

You. The Patient.

The Federal Government has mandated a migration of health records to an electronic format for every State.  There are a  variety of measurable benefits to rolling out this wholesale changeover to the electronic format.   On February 10th, 2009 our Senate approved a stimulus package which provided funding to implement electronic health information exchange across the country, with complete patient record enrollment by 2014.  While hospitals and Doctors around the country had already begun to create some forms of patient voluntary electronic health record keeping on site (more than 37% according to a 2010 poll by the CDC “Electronic Medical Record/Electronic Health Record Systems of Office-based Physicians”   The deployment of funds and resources nationally to take the initiative further was made to benefit quality patient health care in the United States.

Benefits

When an average patient seeks medical assistance at a clinic or hospital, they are able to provide their personal health information to the treating physicians.  The information you provide is critical to the care providers to ensure that allergies, drug interactions and therapies applied do not contraindicate (or create a problem for) existing health issues.  What you provide as a Patient enables you to receive accurate, timely health care when you need it.

Assuming you are able to provide that information.  But what if you can’t?

In an emergency situation a patient may not be able to advocate on their own behalf.  The patient may be injured, unconscious or suffering memory loss or dementia common in older populations.  Friends or family members may not be aware of existing health considerations or medications and other factors.  When a patient needs care and there is minimal information, lab results are required to ascertain a baseline patient health profile.  Records may need to be transferred from general practitioners or archives and sent to the treating facility.  This is costly.  And it can be time consuming as well, increasing the delay before care measures are provided.  That delay can create treatment complications and even cost lives.

But there is a better way isn’t there?

With Electronic Health Information Exchange, regardless of your ability to provide information your point of access care provider will be able to receive that information (with your legal consent) on your behalf.   No matter where you are, your health records will be there for you when you need them in their entirety to make sure that you are receiving optimal and timely health care.

Who is in charge?  You are.  At all times.  Managing your health information by consenting to the tool that allows you the peace of mind knowing your health records will be there when you need them the most.   We look forward to showing you (not telling you) through your participation exactly how it all works and what you can expect in this new era of putting the patient first in American health care.

We invite residents of  Broome, Chenango, Tioga, Delaware and Otsego  New York to explore the Patient Portal here.