Iowa’s movement into the use of EHRs has reached a milestone as three major health systems have signed participation agreements with the Iowa Health Information Network (IHIN) at www.iowaehealth.org and another facility is going to become the first to go live with a full IHIN connection.
Iowa’s Department of Public Health began registering each new patient visit by notifying the IHIN in August. Each patient can choose or not choose to participate in the use of the IHIN. Providers will able to use the Patient Look-Up functionality to request information on patient visits from the hospital’s EHR through the IHIN after November 1st.
In addition, Genesis Health System, University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics and Mercy Health System have signed participation agreement to use IHIN services. The dates for their full IHIN connections has not yet been determined.
The Public Health Tracking (IPHT) tool at www.idph.state.ia.ur/EHS/EPHT.aspx was recently launched in another move by the state of Iowa to protect the public. The IPHT is state-of-the-art environmental and public health tracking program that is part of a national initiative led by CDC to close the gap in what is known about the impact of environmental hazards on health.
There has been a fundamental gap in the country’s knowledge of how and the extent to which environmental hazards affect health. Today, chronic disease accounts for 70 percent of deaths in the U.S. Establishing links between certain chronic diseases and environmental hazards has been reported but whether there are additional connections remains unclear. The data will improve the understanding of hazards and may lead to actions to prevent chronic illnesses.
With IPHT, residents will be able to access both environmental data and health outcome data simultaneously for:
- Asthma, carbon monoxide and heart attach hospitalization rates
- Air pollution trends for ozone and particulate matter
- Drinking water contaminants such as arsenic in public water systems
- Cancer rates
- Birth defect rates
- Childhood lead levels
Iowa is just one of 23 states that received funding from the CDC to build tracking networks and conduct pilot projects to improve knowledge on the potential links between environmental hazards and health effects.