Oklahoma Creating System To Improve Healthcare Information Exchange

The state of Oklahoma is working on a new system with the goal of helping healthcare providers cut back on mistakes and improve public health reporting.

Thursday’s announcement said the state has been working on the Oklahoma Health Information Exchange for years.

State leaders said the online portal, launching in fall 2021, will allow healthcare providers to share patient information with each other quickly and securely.

Carter Kimble, the Oklahoma Health Information Exchange executive director, said this is similar to other states' systems and has been in the works for years.

"Now, we are kind of getting to the place where we are able to integrate state systems with private providers who have adopted electronic health records, so a lot of it is kind of work in progress," said Kimble.

Kimble said the system is not a response to the pandemic but will help doctors and hospitals communicate more efficiently.

"If you have a patient that goes into a local hospital that gets transferred in, say, to Tulsa or Oklahoma City, their information comes with them: Symptoms, history, what medication has been tried or not tried yet," said Kimble.

Kimble also said eventually, different agencies and health departments will be able to work together with fewer errors.

"All of those have these pieces and parts of the puzzle that really is trying to get to better health outcomes," said Kimble.

Kimble stressed each provider and patient may choose whether to share information and that the system is more secured than faxing or mailing information.

Kimble also said the state will pay 10% of the total cost and spend another $7 million in federal money on bids to build the system.