CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – As support for the integration of health care and technology heightens through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, Shared Health, one of the largest public/private medical data-sharing initiatives of its kind in the U.S., has already shown success in implementing and supporting a statewide health information exchange (HIE) in the state of Tennessee.

The Shared Health-supported HIE manages the data of more than 2.6 million patients, has more than 2,500 clinical users and has already shown a 17 percent improvement in efficiencies across clinical care.

While many HIEs house, store and share data, Shared Health's HIE technology enables more than just data sharing. It offers physicians the ability to analyze the data to provide better patient treatment and care, improved health outcomes and less duplicate medical testing and procedures, all reducing overall health care costs.

While working with Tennessee's Medicaid Program, BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee commercial customers, large self-funded employers and the State of Tennessee's uninsured programs, Shared Health's technology has offered powerful web-based clinical tools such as ePrescribing, Clinical Decision Support (CDS), clinical health records, population management analytics, chronic condition management registries, case management, immunization records and child wellness (Early Periodic Screening, Diagnosis, and Treatment - EPSDT) registries to physicians and hospitals across the state.

Shared Health's technology is also available to hospital systems, offering the ability to connect with and integrate owned and affiliated community physicians. By developing a community medical network in which patient medical information can be shared in both directions, the hospital ensures highly coordinated, ongoing patient care.

As one example, in 2008, Shared Health saw an increased electronic prescribing or ePrescribing utilization of more than 400 percent. Each prescription submitted electronically yields $4 savings for payers.

"We are proud to show the country that health information exchanges can improve outcomes for patients and drive down the total cost of health care," said

Jana Skewes , chief executive officer of Shared Health. "We share President Obama's vision of providing smart technological tools that support healthy outcomes and smart business. We are looking forward to offering our expertise in this area so that the country can meld success and innovation quickly into the health care industry."

Just a few of the additional cost-related benefits Shared Health has seen from its health care technologies are improvements in continuity of care across facilities, simplified physician workflow, and measurable improved quality and efficiency - all while putting health care in the hands of the physician.