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Department of Public Health Receives National Award for Collaboration with PHIX

PHIX is working with the City of El Paso Department of Public Health to improve access to screenings and other services that their clients’ may need. As Public Health Director, Robert Resendes, describes, “This project offers a holistic approach to patients using a medical data hub to evaluate a person’s needs. We are able to use the system by cross referencing out clients’ information to make sure if they need further services such as cancer screenings or vaccinations, then they are either provided the care or are directed to the proper venues.” The City of El Paso recently received a Promising Practice award for this project from the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO). Read More

The Right Information at the Right Time in the Emergency Department

Our partners are using PHIX to improve health care in our region. In our partners’ Emergency Departments, for example, physicians use the HIE when they need better information on patients’ medical history. One El Paso physician finds PHIX particularly helpful when patients arrive in cardiac arrest or trauma. He once had a woman arrive at an El Paso hospital in cardiac arrest who could not speak to her care history. The physician searched for her community health record in the El Paso HIE and found information on her cardiac conditions and medications from other health organizations. Based on this additional information, the physician was able to provide more effective care.

PHIX Spotlight: Dr. Rodrigo Saenz, UMC El Paso

How does PHIX help you in caring for your patients?

In many occasions, I may treat a patient for the first time at University Medical Center (UMC) and I may not have immediate and reliable access to important health information. This system allows me to better understand the needs for my patients by reviewing prior physician documentation, laboratory and imaging reports or any other diagnostic work up done in other health care facilities.

Can you share any examples of how the HIE has helped?

PHIX has helped me with patients that come for the first time to UMC because I am able to obtain records from other institutions to understand their prior history. For example, patients may be evaluated in the emergency department for chest pain, and I can review prior electrocardiograms, cardiac stress tests, echocardiograms or cardiac catheterizations from other hospitals. In some cases, this allows me to avoid unnecessary testing which may involve uncomfortable imaging studies (such as MRIs) or invasive procedures (such as biopsies or cardiac catheterizations).

In other instances, I may review prior medications that the patient used and which helps me better define what type of therapy the patient may need. Sometimes a person may come in for a particular infection and I may find recent records from other facilities specifying the type of bacteria and antibiotic sensitivity. Having access to vital information improves the accuracy of the diagnosis and improves the treatment plan. Therefore, the health information exchange helps improve safety, quality, and hospital throughput while reducing costs.

Is it efficient for you to use the HIE to gather patient records?

The system that you have provided us is absolutely amazing! It is clutter free, fast, easy to use and I am able to find the information that I need with just a few clicks.

Is there anything that is not currently part of the HIE that you would like?

I would like for all the physicians in our community to be participating with this system. I would also like for all of the hospitals, long term facilities, inpatient rehabilitation center and nursing homes to be able to be included.

Dr. Rodrigo Saenz is a Hospitalist at University Medical Center of El Paso.

PHIX has new training videos available for our users

Learn how to access records from the national network of VA facilities, including the El Paso VA, in 3 minutes through PHIX.
To schedule an in-person training, call (915) 242-0674.