Kinney Drugs partners with HealtheConnections on medical data

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Kinney Drugs is teaming up with HealtheConnections, a N.Y.-based regional health information organization, to allow physicians and other healthcare providers to securely access and share patient prescription information. 

The partnership will link medication prescribed with medications picked up at over 70 New York Kinney Drugs stores.  

For patients, particularly those with multiple and chronic illnesses, sharing their medical information through HealtheConnections' health information exchange (HIE) can help reduce the time spent filling out paperwork, briefing providers on their medical history and tracking prescriptions across patient caregivers.  This partnership provides physicians with access to critical prescription and medical information that may not otherwise be available, which is especially important for urgent care or emergency room visits occurring late at night or on weekends. 

"Pharmacists and pharmacy services are vital to patient care. Having access to medications that are picked up, not just prescribed or filled, brings us much closer to knowing what medications a patient is using for their care and health," says Rob Hack, president and CEO of HealtheConnections. "This valued partnership with Kinney Drugs will provide an important flow of information that will greatly enhance the patient, provider and pharmacist interaction and communication for improved patient care."

Patients must provide consent for their care providers to view their electronic medical information available with HealtheConnections. Over one million of HealtheConnections' regional population has provided consent to their care providers. Over 170 regional healthcare organizations are sharing electronic health records for the use of nearly 600 participating organizations, representing seventy percent of the region's 3,000 providers.