CareSpark Announces Collaboration with

Leading Technology Companies

To Help Improve our Region’s Health

CareSpark joined numerous national and local technology companies to announce the formation of the CareSpark RHIO Consortium. The Consortium will assist in the development of a technical infrastructure for the secure exchange of health information among physicians, hospitals, clinics and other healthcare providers in the Tri-City area of Johnson City, Kingsport and Bristol TN/VA with the goal of improving community health.

Numerous national and global technology companies-including ActiveHealth Management, AllScripts, CGI-AMS, Cisco Systems, Dell, GE Healthcare,  Intel, Initiate Systems, Misys, Quovadx, Oracle, Siemens Medical Solutions and others-are collaborating with local technology companies including Intellithought, LucentGlow, Holston Technology and eTechSecurityPro to design the technical infrastructure that will enable participating health care providers to securely share health information.  The secure sharing of patient information will enable CareSpark to develop collaborative processes to improve the health status of our region.

“CareSpark, with its strong collaboration with the public and private sector, promises to be exemplary of what can be accomplished when harmonized standards and interoperability, such as those delivered by HITSP and IHE, serve as the foundation for innovation,” said Charles Parisot, who leads GE Healthcare’s global standards and health information exchange technology strategy. “By working together to create a digital community across the Central Appalachia and using quality reimbursement measures over quantity measures, CareSpark will not only demonstrate the value of this kind of model but show that it is critical to bringing higher quality care to the patients with greatest need and highest costs in today's healthcare system."

With assistance from the CareSpark RHIO Consortium members, local hospitals, physician offices, labs, pharmacies, diagnostic centers, and public health departments plan to connect to the network and to encourage the use of clinical best practices and process improvement. Decision support tools for physicians and patients are central to the design of CareSpark’s infrastructure.