The Central Illinois Health Information Exchange anounced the launch of the CIHIE software allcharts™, along with its secure clinical messaging, to the media on Jan. 26.

Research shows that scheduling babies for delivery prior to 39 weeks gestation is connected to a higher likelihood of death, admittance to a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), and life-long health problems.

Yet, an astonishing number of deliveries occur too early with no medical need – 23 percent in Illinois, according to the Leapfrog Group. The numbers show wide variation among hospitals.

The Healthy Babies, Healthy Moms team wants to eliminate early elective deliveries in Illinois. 

Quest has awarded the Q Award, an annual award presented to a group or individual that advances the Quest mission, to the Health Information Exchange Advisory Council.

“Much of the care that women receive is not consistent with best evidence, despite the unprecedented body of comparative effectiveness research that is available to us in the field of maternity care,” said Maureen Corry, MPH, Executive Director of Childbirth Connection at Quality Quest’s annual board social held August 10 at Lakeview Museum.

All participating CIHIE providers have their own data systems, which will be integrated to a secure central system. Informatics Corporation of America (ICA) is the technology partner that will supply the infrastructure to aggregate all the data required to populate a patient's chart.

Methodist Medical Center's IT team hashed out preliminary plans with ICA representatives on Tuesday. ICA met with OSF Saint Francis the day before and will soon meet with Proctor Hospital, covering the three major hospitals of Peoria. They will meet with other charter member organizations in Bloomington and Decatur the rest of the week.