BOISE, Idaho – May 23, 2017 – Kno2™, the company that optimizes patient document exchange for everyone in healthcare, today announced a partnership agreement with BlueStrata EHR, a developer of affordable, cloud-based, software as a service (SaaS) clinical and financial electronic health record (EHR) solutions for the long-term post-acute care (LTPAC) industry.
BlueStrata EHR will integrate Kno2’s interoperability platform into its EHR to enable swift, secure exchange of patient documentation between hospitals and their LTPAC provider clients. The initial implementation, which is scheduled to be completed by the end of May 2017, will incorporate Kno2’s Direct messaging and cloud fax capabilities into the EHR and further optimize clinician workflows. Deployment of Kno2’s document query, leveraging the Carequality Interoperability Framework, will follow shortly thereafter, giving clinicians and LTPAC providers a full range of electronic document exchange options to help them efficiently and securely share vital information about their mutual patients.
“As the industry moves toward the value-based care model, we are building a greater understanding of the importance of care transitions and the need to share timely, accurate patient information between provider settings,” said Tony Coco, president of BlueStrata EHR. “Our long-term care (LTC) clients recognize that interoperable electronic document exchange is essential to delivering higher quality care to their residents and strengthening their business partnerships with local hospitals. Kno2’s solution makes it easy to accomplish both goals. It is easy to implement and offers a cost-effective path for all of our LTC users to rapidly connect, which makes Kno2 the ideal partner for this important initiative.”
As hospitals and other healthcare organizations increase their participation in risk-sharing alternative payment models, the ability to seamlessly exchange patient documentation becomes a financial—as well as a clinical—imperative. Hospitals are increasingly showing a preference for referring patients to LTPAC facilities that have patient data exchange capabilities to ensure that providers have a holistic view of all the care their patients are receiving. Given that most of even the sickest patients’ care will be provided outside the four walls of the hospital, having the ability to easily incorporate that external care into hospital-based EHRs aids clinicians in making better informed treatment decisions, especially in emergent situations. It also allows hospitals to meet the mandates for electronic transmission of information during transitions of care, as specified under the Advancing Care Information (ACI) program, formerly known as Meaningful Use.
Through Kno2’s simple APIs, virtually any EHR has the ability to integrate extensive healthcare data exchange capabilities—within just weeks instead of months. Affordable integration and access to the nation’s leading information networks have been key drivers of Kno2’s expansion within the LTPAC technology vendor sector. Additionally, LTC solution companies, including BlueStrata EHR, are realizing that while satisfying the growing demand for affordable electronic document exchange, they are also gaining an important market differentiator by ensuring that their clients stay in stride with eligible hospitals and eligible providers—protecting current referrals, as well as attracting new ones.
“When it comes to EHRs and interoperability, the LTPAC community is playing catch-up,” said Jon Elwell, CEO of Kno2. “They were left behind when Meaningful Use was introduced because the Affordable Care Act didn’t require them to implement an EHR, unlike hospitals and physician offices. BlueStrata EHR’s cost-effective technology addresses that LTC gap, empowering those organizations to embrace the benefits of electronic record-keeping and improve their care coordination. We’re proud to join with BlueStrata EHR to take this important next step of enabling patient records to be securely and quickly shared with all providers throughout the care continuum, further enhancing patient outcomes.”
