Healthix: Closing the Gaps in Care

As New York City emerged as the epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak, the demand for reliable, accessible healthcare data grew increasingly urgent. Healthix, the nation’s largest public health information exchange, serving more than 20 million patients, rose to the challenge by immediately developing COVID-19 Alerts. The timely notifications are used by healthcare providers, health plans, public health agencies and more. Facilitated by a consent policy waiver granted by New York State Dept. of Health, COVID-19 laboratory test result notifications are sent to providers to support COVID-19 response efforts. Quickly, Healthix emerged as the heart of the region’s health IT response. In the first month alone, the exchange sent 760,000 alerts to clinicians when coronavirus lab tests were conducted, and results returned.

For health systems and clinicians, one of the most effective actions taken by Healthix might have been an effort that began before the start of the pandemic: Healthix Gaps in Care. The new service empowers healthcare organizations to identify and analyze discrepancies between best practices and actual healthcare services delivered, zeroing in on Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS) gaps in care. Through the pandemic and into the future, the service supports Healthix Participants with the data-driven insights necessary to improve quality measures and patient outcomes.

“The Healthix Gaps in Care report is instrumental in helping our Participants understand how they’re serving their population for common acute and chronic conditions,” says Sana Ali, Healthix project manager. “This knowledge impacts the effectiveness of patient outreach strategies.”

Does your organization have similar care delivery goals?

^{This story originally appeared the May 29, 2020 – HealthShare Connections News Flash No.2: COVID-19 Pandemic newsletter}