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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."