GRAND JUNCTION, CO – Quality Health Network, a Grand Junction, Co.-based not-for-profit health information exchange network, plans to expand services to health professionals in Colorado communities of Aspen and Montrose.

The addition of the two communities is part of the QHN's next phase of expansion, said QHN officials. The overall goal, they said, is to provide data exchange capabilities to more than 20 hospitals and physicians in Western Colorado.

“We are delighted that the physicians of Aspen and Montrose have joined the network,” said Dick Thompson, Executive Director and CEO of the not-for-profit QHN. “Our expansion plan for Western Colorado has been facilitated by funding from the area providers and from the generous support of the Colorado Health Foundation. Their support and leadership validates the vision of QHN’s founders and improves the ability of area physicians to delivery high quality care.”

QHN is using the Elysium Exchange platform, developed by San Jose, Calif.-based Axolotl, to facilitate the data exchange between the Colorado providers. Officials from the two new member hospitals said that by having the ability to exchange health data, the care at each facility is expected to improve.

“Aspen Valley Hospital is dedicated to delivering extraordinary health care. We are continually working to improve outcomes and want to offer our physicians and medical staff state-of-the-art technology to help them provide the best possible patient care,” said David Ressler, CEO of Aspen Valley Hospital (AVH). “Thanks to the financial support of the Aspen Valley Hospital Foundation, we are able to implement this new technology. We see a high value in providing our area physicians with timely access to complete patient information at the point of care. It helps them better serve their patients.”

“At Montrose Memorial Hospital, we recognize that patients benefit from the timely exchange of clinical information among all health care providers in our regional area,” said David Hample, CEO of Montrose Memorial Hospital (MMH). “Now that we are connected to the QHN network, we are extremely pleased to have made it a lot easier for our physicians to securely receive and share patient information electronically with other area practices and hospitals. We want to improve patient satisfaction and reduce costs and our QHN connection can help us do that.”

The data model is expected to provide physicians with the ability to aggregate medical history into a single longitudinal patient medical record for timely diagnosis and treatment of patient problems, said QHN officials. QHN is going to provide a CCHIT-certified electronic medical record to those providers who aren't currently using one in order to incorporate more healthcare organizations in the network.