Big Sky Care Connect, Montana's State Designated Health Information Exchange Launches With Gov. Bullock

Helena, MT – Big Sky Care Connect's (BSCC) Chief Administrative Officer Jean Branscum moderated a roundtable discussion with Gov. Steve Bullock last Thursday at Riverstone Health, Billings to discuss the roll out of Big Sky Care Connect, Montana's state designated health information exchange (HIE). RIVERSTONE CEO and President John Felton, Rimrock CEO Lenette Kosovich and Dr. Randy Thompson with Billings Clinic joined them.

Before the launch of BSCC, Montana was one of just three states without a state designated HIE. An HIE is a modern system for improving health and saving time by feeding data from healthcare providers across the state into a centralized system.

"A statewide health information exchange brings providers together to collectively use common sense and secure technology to improve health outcomes for Montanans," said Gov. Bullock.

BSCC will act as a valuable tool for monitoring comprehensive patient records, medication needs, patient events, analytics, image sharing and public health reporting. BSCC will collect and normalize data from multiple sources into a type of consolidated health record, resulting in information from any electronic health records (EHR) system being seamlessly shared across Montana.

"BSCC is utilizing state-of-the art, innovative technology that will eliminate long wait times for test results and sharing of medical records," said Jean Branscum, BSCC's chief administrative officer. "Healthcare providers across Montana can now be a part of a secure, high-speed network for delivering real-time healthcare information at the point of care."

Twenty healthcare leaders throughout Montana have signed on to the BSCC HIE network. Participants include Advanced Care Hospital of Montana, Allergy and Asthma Consultants of Montana, Bighorn Valley Health Center, Bighorn Valley Hospital Association, Billings Clinic, Cabinet Peaks Medical Center, Kalispell Regional Healthcare, McCone County Health Center, Mountain View Eye Care, North Valley Hospital, Prairie County Hospital, PureHealth DPC, Rimrock Addiction and Treatment Center, Riverstone Health, Rosebud Health Care Center, Shodair Children's Hospital, Youth Dynamics, and Medicaid.

"Developing partnerships between BSCC and healthcare leaders like these is a powerful step forward and testament to the impacts an HIE can have," said Branscum "We're always looking for new partners. The more partnerships we can develop, the more we can improve care around the state."

BSCC will be among the top statewide HIEs in the nation through partnership with InterSystems, who will host BSCC's platform and infrastructure.

"InterSystems is a global leader in technology platforms for health, business and government. With their infrastructure, BSCC will be a high value network for Montana," said Branscum.

Other BSCC partners include DrFirst and Collective Medical, providers of healthcare technologies proven to help hospitals and care teams reduce unnecessary utilization and lengths-of-stay for hospitals while enhancing patient centered care.

"We're incredibly excited to begin the valuable work of improving healthcare outcomes for Montanans," Branscum said. "BSCC represents the opportunity for healthcare providers across Montana to commit to improved patient care by using a secure, accessible platform."

For more information about Big Sky Care Connect, visit mtbscc.org.