Two of the biggest health care systems in the Charlotte area started sharing patient records Wednesday. The partnership between Carolinas HealthCare System and Novant Health will include about nine million patients.
Now doctors will be able to access the information immediately instead of waiting for the records to be transferred. Craig Richardville chief information and analytics officer with Carolinas HealthCare System said this will allow for faster care decisions based on a broader view of patients’ health.
“What used to take days or weeks to receive patient information from another health system will now be near instantaneous,” he said.
The two health systems will share test results, medical diagnoses, visit summaries and other records through a Health Information Exchange.
Dr. AJ Patefield chief medical information officer at Novant Health said it will give clinicians the ability to spend more time with patients instead of tracking down records.
“It also reduces medical redundancies, such as duplication of testing, which can reduce costs for patients that receive care from multiple providers,”
A spokeswoman for Novant Health said the exchange is safe and there are security measures in place to prevent a breach.