Eastern Connecticut Health Network (ECHN), a not-for-profit healthcare system, has contracted with MobileMD, a Yardley, Pa.-based vendor, to help it build a communitywide health information exchange.

The HIE not only will provide connectivity among ECHN’s two hospitals and five ambulatory-care sites, but also will reach out to non-ECHN providers, including competing healthcare systems in the Manchester, Conn., area. The HIE will be available to community physicians, as well as a skilled nursing facility, a rehabilitation center and a home health agency.

ECHN said the HIE will be a foundational element in its accountable care organization strategy.

“ECHN looks forward to working with MobileMD as the means to establish closer communications with community providers,” Charles Covin, ECHN’s vice president for information services, said in a statement. “The MobileMD product suite will permit all members of the provider community to better communicate and share pertinent information in a secure manner.”

MobileMD offers a cloud-based HIE for clinical and administrative data exchange among all providers caring for patients within a community. The company claims that it can connect EHRs from any vendor.

An interesting sidelight: ECHN recently renewed its network provider contract with Aetna, yet chose not to use Aetna’s Medicity subsidiary as its HIE vendor.

This article was originally posted at http://www.fiercehealthit.com/story/communitywide-hie-foundational-element-health-systems-aco-strategy/2011-10-19