NEW YORK – The Bronx Regional Health Information Organization has entered into a partnership to improve health information exchange between providers in New York.

“In the digital age of the 21st Century, electronic health information must be made securely available to clinicians and patients when and where it is needed,” said Don Ashkenase, board chair for BronxRHIO and executive vice president of Montefiore Medical Center in New York City. “Our mission is to establish an HIE that will provide authorized clinicians and other caregivers with vital health information at the point of care, enabling significant improvements in patient safety, health outcomes and practice efficiencies.”

BronxRHIO is a not-for-profit organization established by the Bronx’s leading healthcare organizations. It serves 1.4 million residents in the Bronx and includes hospitals, health systems, ambulatory care centers, individual physician offices, long-term care and home care services.

Through a new agreement with Axolotl, a San Jose, Calif.-based provider of healthcare solutions, BronxRHIO  will implement Axolotl’s Elysium Exchange Suite of solutions. The goal is to enable healthcare organizations in New York to exchange personal health information easily and securely.

“We have a great opportunity to rapidly deploy a regional health information exchange throughout the Bronx to improve the quality of care for the residents,” said Charles Scaglione, executive director of BronxRHIO.  “It also gives us the opportunity to collaborate with other RHIOs and New York State’s Department of Health.”

BronxRHIO officials said the organization's members provide more that 80 percent of the healthcare in the Bronx. By implementing the Elysium solution, BronxRHIO looks to connect disparate legacy health information and electronic medical record systems in an effort to achieve interoperability among participating providers.

Axolotl has deployed a Statewide Health Information Network for New York development and implementation team, said Axolotl officials. The team follows guidelines established by the New York eHealth Collaborative and the New York Department of Health and is expected to enable BronxRHIO to meet state regulations regarding disclosure of personal health data and adhere to privacy policies.