IRVINE, CA -- (Marketwire) -- 02/05/13 -- HealtheConnections, the Regional Health Information Organization (RHIO) supporting the 1.4 million lives in Central New York, today announced that it is partnering with Mirth Corporation to upgrade and expand its capabilities and reach. Since launching its efforts in 2010, HealtheConnections has become one of the nation's fastest-growing RHIOs connecting 17 hospitals, 6 independent regional diagnostic centers, and more than 100 physician practices and other health care organizations. HealtheConnections provides consolidated patient record lookup services, referral capability, results delivery and secure email services for the 11 counties of Central New York. It also serves as a regional extension center agent assisting more than 320 of 650 providers to achieve Meaningful Use. In partnership with Mirth, HealtheConnections will add statewide patient record lookup, public health reporting and information exchange services with the Veterans Health Administration. The HealtheConnections HIE has patient health records on 85 percent of the region's population, with more than 700 providers accessing or receiving health information services. All information in the exchange and all current capabilities will be migrated to Mirth's platform and applications.

For more than a decade, Mirth Corporation has been delivering software solutions designed to address the interoperability challenges of the health care industry in a way that dramatically reduces the time, cost and technology barriers to health care transformations. HealtheConnections selected Mirth for its flexibility and adaptability to the changing demands in health information technology.

"Mirth has a proven track record of implementing health information exchange systems for health care organizations large and small, across a wide array of geographic locations," said Rob Hack, executive director of HealtheConnections. "The company's HIE technology platform, including Mirth Connect, Mirth Results, Mirth Match and Mirth Mail applications, serves as a critical part of the architecture we are building that will provide the most value to our patients and providers. Their service-backed offerings break through the cost barriers and position us well to help our stakeholders improve patient care, drive continued adoption growth and achieve cost-saving opportunities."

According to the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, signed into law in 2009, health care providers, hospitals and other medical services must adopt certified EHR technology and use it to achieve specific Meaningful Use objectives and criteria. This phased-in government mandate is designed to improve health care quality, safety and efficiency through the promotion of health IT, including Electronic Health Records and private and secure electronic Health Information Exchange.

"We are thrilled to be able to partner with HealtheConnections, one of the country's true leaders in delivering an integrated electronic method for easily sharing key patient information," said Jon Teichrow, president of Mirth Corporation. "We're honored to have the opportunity to apply our robust and flexible software capabilities, as well as our real-world experience in deploying large-scale HIEs to support HealtheConnections in addressing its regional, statewide and national goals."

From Health Care Integration Engines to Sophisticated Analytics
The Mirth platform consists of a suite of software tools and services enabling interoperability across disparate systems. "From our flagship product, Mirth Connect, a health care integration engine specifically designed for HL7 message integration, to our innovative data repository and clinical patient record viewer, Mirth Results, designed for the collection and aggregation of clinical data, we help our clients achieve the quality and efficiency in clinical care as well as an enhanced experience for the patient," Teichrow said.

For HealtheConnections, a key reason for selecting Mirth is the company's ability to deliver results within a rapid time frame as well as the ability to easily integrate with existing provider systems already in use across health care facilities within the HealtheConnections regional communities.

"Supplying health care providers with access to health care information and tools that dramatically improve their ability to make better health decisions across the spectrum of care is paramount," said Hack. "The transition to Mirth will increase the value proposition for all providers and contribute to efficiencies in care delivery."

Using the Mirth technology platform, patient information can be readily aggregated into a community health record accessible by all participating HIE providers. This can be especially helpful in an emergency room situation or when a provider sees a new patient for the first time. Assuring that information follows a patient wherever and whenever he or she seeks care is a key goal of HealtheConnections' mission.

"Mirth's strength is its flexibility -- it has strong capabilities to send and receive information to and from physician practices especially," Hack notes. "We see this capability as being extremely important in the two-way exchange of patient clinical history supporting coordinated patient care, patient lookup and referrals."

About HealtheConnections
HealtheConnections (pronounced "healthy-connections") is the Regional Health Information Organization (RHIO) of Central New York that is responsible for overseeing the secure, electronic health information exchange that gives authorized, participating medical providers access to complete patient medical histories and information in real-time. HealtheConnections brings together employers, hospitals, physicians, insurers and consumers to advance regional high-quality health care, access and safety while maintaining or decreasing costs. HealtheConnections serves the 11 counties within the approximately 60-mile radius of Syracuse, New York: Cayuga, Cortland, Herkimer, Jefferson, Lewis, Madison, Oneida, Onondaga, Oswego, St. Lawrence and Tompkins counties. For more information, visit http://www.healtheconnections.org.

About Mirth Corporation
Headquartered in Irvine, California, Mirth Corporation is a global leader in health information technology. Recently, the company was recognized as one of the top vendors in HIE Client Satisfaction in according to the market research firm Black Book. The Black Book Healthcare Information 2012 Rankings is one of the nation's top measurements of technology and services in the health care industry.

The Mirth team is passionate about transforming the health care industry with their commercial and open source software and systems. Mirth technology is used daily by thousands of health professionals and institutions worldwide to streamline care management processes and to securely exchange health information across enterprises, communities and broad geographies. For more information, visit http://www.mirthcorp.com.