Intel Stands at Center of Huge Health Data Exchange Project

Intel Corp.’s 18,000-plus Hillsboro employees’ health care providers recently got a lot more connected.

The on-campus clinic that serves employees now can share records seamlessly between Kaiser Permanente Northwest and Providence Health & Services and the Portland Clinic.

“We created a closed-loop model of care across the entire medical neighborhood,” said Will Rice, vice president of application and delivery for Premise Health, which manages Intel’s Health for Life Centers on its campus.

The project was a collaboration between Premise, Greenway Health and the providers, who use Epic’s Electronic Medical Records systems. According to Greenway, this is the first and most comprehensive “bi-directional data exchange project” using the national eHealth Exchange, the nation’s largest public-private health data exchange.

Prior to an exam, a doctor can query other providers who have information on the patient. Afterward, they can add any new information.

“We have in the overall life cycle, the ability to bring in information that, otherwise, maybe we wouldn’t have had, and at the end, we can push information back out to the primary care provider,” Rice said.

Intel last year partnered with Kaiser and Providence on “connected care” contracts to provide health care to employees. Intel is self-insured and also offers traditional plans with broad provider networks.

“This is an extension of that effort,” Rice said. “This builds on the belief that with aligned incentives, greater outcomes can be achieved, at the same time offering cost savings to the overall health care model.”

Patient data is securely shared on every kind of encounter, from referrals, emergencies, hospitalizations and discharge care. In the first six months since it went live, more than 26,000 data sets of patient information were exchanged.

The project leverages Greenway Prime Suite, the electronic health records solution used by Premise, Greenway’s cloud-based interoperability engine and the eHealth Exchange.

“Intel really is focused on creating an improved patient experience in terms of engaging the patient in their care, including physical delivery of care,” Rice said. “It was important for us as on-site operators to make sure we had alignment of technologies to share and coordinate information to the community providers, and vice versa, so the right information on the patient is available at the right time and place.”

The Oregon project is now being replicated for Intel employees in Phoenix.

Read the article on the Portland Business Journal here.