When Community Based Organizations Connect to RHIO, Patients Benefit

A person’s health is so much more than a doctor’s visit—and during no other time in history has a holistic collection of health information been as vital to quality care as it is today.

More than 300 regional Community Based Organizations (CBOs) are now connected to Rochester RHIO. They can now directly and securely access health information for Medicaid and uninsured patients.

For the first time, social services and behavioral health organizations have a more complete picture of health records, including recent hospitalizations, laboratory tests and imaging, and medications administered. The same holds true for long-term care facilities, who can contribute details about residents that can speed and improve treatment should they fall ill. Most CBOs utilize RHIO DIRECT messaging service, which enables secure point to point electronic communication between caregivers. 

CBOs work to improve the lives of residents in their geographic location, delivering services that address social determinants of health, including education, transportation, socioeconomic factors, employment status and access to healthy food and activities. With this collaboration, secure data sharing is building a more complete patient record.

RHIO Contribute services create bi-directional exchange, meaning they can transmit and receive data that helps caregivers make better decisions and provide better guidance. In turn, other health organizations such as hospitals and specialists who also have permission to access the data can use it to help their assessments and recommendations.