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| 2024 REPORT TO THE COMMUNITY

Introduction

Introduction
Chapter 1 Advancing WNY's Health
Chapter 2 Making
Progress
Chapter 3 Partners in HIE
Chapter 4 By the Numbers
Epilogue

Collaborating
for Our
Community's
Health

2024 report to
the
community.

A message from our leadership.

Anthony Billittier,
MD, FACEP

Chair, HEALTHeLINK Board of Directors

Executive Vice President & Chief Medical
Officer,
Independent Health

Daniel E. Porreca

President and CEO

Advancing WNY's collective health.

We continue to build HEALTHeLINK's collaborative foundation to support population health improvement efforts and advance Western New York's collective health. The HEALTHeWNY vision is driven by collaboration, coordination, and community engagement to improve health outcomes and foster healthier and thriving communities.

Utilizing HEALTHeWNY™ Dashboard.

In 2024, we continued to enhance our HEALTHeWNY Dashboard by adding new metrics, such as asthma, prediabetes, trending health patterns, and various pediatric measures, to provide even more comprehensive data insights. We engaged with local elected officials to educate them about the dashboard and demonstrate its potential uses for informed decision-making.

Access the HEALTHeWNY Dashboard

The availability of advance directives.

The availability of advance directives.

HEALTHeLINK has completed year one of a two-year cooperative agreement to aggregate advance care planning documents from across the community to make them electronically available to treating providers who need to know a patient's wishes at the point of care. Funding is provided through the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT's Leading Edge Acceleration Projects (LEAP) in the Health Information Technology program.

Artificial Intelligence Initiative.

Through a New York eHealth Collaborative-funded project, HEALTHeLINK completed an Artificial Intelligence tool evaluation and infrastructure project. This infrastructure explores the implementation of AI capabilities and tools for use cases of potential practical applications supporting population health, enhancing diagnostics and treatment, improving patient care, and reducing administrative burden. We will share the lessons we learn with Qualified Entities (QEs) and medical providers across the state to use in their communities.

Support for Social Care Network.

In support of New York Health Equity Reform 1115 Waiver, HEALTHeLINK has been working closely with Western New York Integrated Care Collaborative (WNYICC), the designated Social Care Network (SCN) for the WNY Region, to improve the sharing of important health and social needs information.

The collaboration continues.

Your partners in HIE.

HEALTHeLINK continues to demonstrate HIE leadership in collaborating with similar organizations nationwide to share and leverage best practices for data-informed decision-making and improved quality of care.

Significant Milestones

18

Years of
leadership

391

Projects completed (2016-2024),
including 35 in 2024

HEALTHeLINK by the numbers.

38M+

Total results shared in 2024

14%

Increase year over year

Alerts Delivered

With HEALTHeLINK's alert notifications, providers and care coordination networks receive real-time updates regarding patient hospital admissions, discharges, and transfers, including emergency department visits.

2.6M+

Total patient subscriptions in 2024

8,288,049

Alerts delivered in 2024

1,712

Practices to receive alerts

Patient Record Lookups

Patient records lookup gives participating HEALTHeLINK provider organizations instant access to a consented patient's clinical record, obtaining information such as lab tests, radiology reports, medication history, and other relevant health information from provider EHRs across the community.

12,268,730

Patient record lookups in 2024

Results Delivered

HEALTHeLINK's results delivery service enables participating providers to receive clinical results, such as lab tests, radiology reports, and images, for their patients directly within their EHR. This functionality enhances the ability for providers to conduct pre-visit planning and reduces duplicate tests with information available in real-time.

1.5M+

Patient results delivered monthly

14%

Increase year over year

Patient Encounter Data

HEALTHeLINK enables the delivery of patient encounter data or continuity of care documents (CCDs) from a provider's EHR to share consented patients' medical information more easily and securely among treating providers.

11,885,279

Patient encounter records shared in 2024

Measuring Our Progress

1,960

Participant sites

5,254

Participating providers

1.6M+

Consented patients

HEALTHeLINK has 723 data sources, including:

597

Physician practices

26

Hospitals

11

Home health care agencies

67

Long-term care facilities

13

Regional radiology providers

9

Independent laboratory practices

3,822

Providers sending HEALTHeLINK data from EHRs

≈99%

Of WNY lab results available w/HEALTHeLINK

90%+

Of WNY radiology reports + images available w/HEALTHeLINK

400M+

Reports available w/HEALTHeLINK

2.5M+

Reports added to HEALTHeLINK (monthly)

Looking ahead to 2025.

Driving data-informed decisions.

Data alone doesn't create value — it's what's done with the data to improve health outcomes for our community that matters. This is why the spirit of collaboration for delivering value remains at the forefront of everything we do.

HEALTHeLINK looks forward to enhancing our infrastructure by engaging the health care community to identify and undertake projects to move our health system forward. We also remain committed to working with community organizations to ensure they have the data needed for overall population health and well-being.

Board of Directors

Anthony Billittier, MD, FACEP, Board Chair

Independent Health

Executive Vice President & Chief Medical Officer

Andrew L. Davis, MBA

Erie County Medical Center

Chief Operating Officer

Pastor George F. Nicholas

Buffalo Center for Health Equity

Chief Operating Officer

Art Wingeter, Vice Chair

Univera

President

Mark F. Perry, MD

Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield

Senior Medical Director

Ann Marie Odrobina

M&T Bank

Group Vice President, Employee Benefits & Wellness

Allison Brashear, MD, MBA

University at Buffalo

Vice President for Health Sciences and Dean, Jacobs School of Medicine, and Biomedical Sciences

Lauren Bruckner, M.D., Ph.D.

Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center

Chief Medical Information Officer Professor of Oncology Department of Pediatric Hematology-Oncology

Paul Pettit

Genesee & Orleans County Health Departments

Commissioner of Health

Michael F. Galang, DO

Catholic Health System

Senior Vice President & CIO

Eileen Morgan

Consumer Representative

Courtney Starnes

Kaleida Health

SVP, Chief Information Officer

Collaborating for Our Community's Health

We continue to build HEALTHeLINK's collaborative foundation to support population health improvement efforts and advance Western New York's collective health. The HEALTHeWNY vision is driven by collaboration, coordination, and community engagement to improve health outcomes and foster healthier and thriving communities.

HEALTHeLINK has strengthened its support for community-based organizations (CBOs) to enhance client support through data-driven insights. By enabling access to comprehensive health data, we enable CBOs to better identify and address the specific needs of individuals in their communities. These partnerships allow us to provide valuable information on patient demographics and care utilization trends, empowering CBOs to tailor their services, streamline outreach efforts, and facilitate more coordinated care. This connectivity improves the support for at-risk populations and promotes a holistic approach to healthcare, recognizing the complex relationship between medical and social factors. Ultimately, efforts like this lead to better health outcomes for the communities we serve.

In 2024, we continued to enhance our HEALTHeWNY Dashboard by adding new metrics, such as asthma, prediabetes, trending health patterns, and various pediatric measures, to provide even more comprehensive data insights. We engaged with local elected officials to educate them about the dashboard and demonstrate its potential uses for informed decision-making.

Additionally, we developed targeted dashboards for health departments in the Western New York region, tailored to their specific needs.

Our commitment to training and educating the WNY community on the HEALTHeWNY Dashboard remains strong. We regularly conduct sessions to ensure users can effectively utilize the tool. As we move forward, we are dedicated to continuously expanding the dashboard's capabilities by adding new metrics each year, further supporting our mission to improve regional public health outcomes.

Access the HEALTHeWNY Dashboard, click here.

Focus on maternal health.

HEALTHeLINK has taken a leadership role in a maternal health workgroup in Western New York, uniting various stakeholders to enhance maternal health outcomes. By providing real-time alerts for birth events to local health departments, HEALTHeLINK enables timely postnatal care. This proactive approach supports new parents and their babies with essential services such as breastfeeding guidance, newborn care advice, and emotional support during the postpartum period. Our collaboration with hospitals and local health departments aims to bridge gaps in care, promoting the well-being of both parents and newborns.

Additionally, the Maternal Health Workgroup has established two goals for 2025:

Identify and showcase key metrics on the HEALTHeWNY Dashboard.
Create a comprehensive population health report for individuals (prenatal or postpartum) in Western New York (by county or ZIP code) identified as having high-risk conditions.

HEALTHeLINK has completed year one of a two-year cooperative agreement to aggregate advance care planning documents from across the community to make them electronically available to treating providers who need to know a patient's wishes at the point of care. Funding is provided through the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT's Leading Edge Acceleration Projects (LEAP) in the Health Information Technology program.

This project continues to build on the HEALTHeLINK infrastructure to solve the complex problem of having advance directives available when patients cannot speak for themselves, especially in an emergency room. We anticipate to continue implementing additional data sources in 2025 and beyond.

In support of New York Health Equity Reform 1115 Waiver, HEALTHeLINK has been working closely with Western New York Integrated Care Collaborative (WNYICC), the designated Social Care Network (SCN) for the WNY Region, to improve the sharing of important health and social needs information.

HEALTHeLINK is helping to connect the most recent health-related social needs data with the state system as a central data repository, making it easier for providers to access screening and referral information. We transfer weekly and monthly Medicaid eligibility data to our regional Social Care Network (SCN), used to determine eligibility for services. By partnering with WNYICC, our region's SCN, we are working with local practices and organizations to collect approved health screenings and ensure the results are sent to the statewide repository and importantly shared with our region's SCN for social needs service delivery.

HEALTHeLINK is adding a new feature to the HIE, allowing providers to see the latest patient screening, assessment, and referral information for a patient.

HEALTHeLINK continues to demonstrate HIE leadership in collaborating with similar organizations nationwide to share and leverage best practices for data-informed decision-making and improved quality of care.

Connecting statewide.

Through the SHIN-NY (Statewide Health Information Network for New York), HEALTHeLINK exchanges data with other Qualified Entities (QEs) across New York State. With this connection, participating providers have secure access to clinical information on their consented patients who may receive care elsewhere in the state.

On behalf of HEALTHeLINK, we thank Western New York's state delegation for their continued advocacy and support of funding for the SHIN-NY and our ongoing efforts to enhance the health of our population.

Connecting nationwide.

Civitas Networks for Health is a national collaborative comprised of more than 170 member organizations dedicated to improving health through health information exchange, data use, and cross-sector collaboration. HEALTHeLINK staff and stakeholders collaborate with their counterparts nationwide on various working committees.

At the annual Civitas conference, HEALTHeLINK was honored with the prestigious "Innovation Pioneer Award" for our groundbreaking work on the HEALTHeWNY Dashboard. This recognition was a testament to the team's dedication in bringing HEALTHeWNY to life and the continued support and utilization from the WNY community.

Closing the gaps in care.

HEALTHeLINK has participated in Building Bridges for Better Health: A Primary Health Care Challenge sponsored by the Health Resources and Services Administration. This multiphase challenge aimed to enhance access and care coordination to achieve better health and reduce disparities by utilizing technical assistance solutions. With over 130 applicants at the program's start, HEALTHeLINK made it past the challenge's three phases and took third place out of eight final award winners.

To advance health equity (and specifically support Federally Qualified Health Centers), HEALTHeLINK built HEALTHeQUALITY. This innovative solution brings together clinical and Health Related Social Needs data to identify gaps in care. HEALTHeLINK worked with The Chautauqua Center, Jericho Road Community Health Center, and Universal Primary Care to utilize HEALTHeQUALITY to bridge the gap between clinical care and social concerns that act as barriers to care.

As a result of using HEALTHeQUALITY to electronically monitor patients' chronic disease management measures and cancer screenings, The Chautauqua Center, Jericho Road Community Health Center, and Universal Primary Care all saw increases in breast, cervical, and colorectal cancer screening rates, as well as improved hypertension and diabetes management among their patients. Staff also reported increased productivity and improved quality of care.

The availability of Advance Directives.

HEALTHeLINK was awarded a $1 million corporative agreement over the next two years from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT. We will aggregate advance care planning documents from across the community to make them electronically available to treating providers who need access to a patient's wishes at the point of care.

While patients have documentation in their physician's office or a hospital medical record, studies show that only one-third of emergency department patients have advanced planning documents, like living wills, health care proxy, do not resuscitate, and medical orders for life-sustaining treatment to guide end-of-life treatment. When these documents exist, they aren't easily accessible when (and where) they are needed.

Funding is provided through ONC's Leading Edge Acceleration Projects (LEAP) in the Health Information Technology program. HEALTHeLINK is the country's only funding recipient in the 2023 LEAP project category defined as “Exploring the Use of Advanced Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) Capabilities.

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