At St. Vincent's, nearly 200 doctors tap into the hospital's network to get information such as lab reports, lists of physicians on staff at the hospital and referral information for health plans. Physicians using the system cannot communicate with other hospitals and insurers or with colleagues who are not on staff at the hospital. This is where CHINs come in. By connecting different hospitals, payers and health care organizations all on a single network, CHINs allow physicians to communicate with many different organizations using a single computer equipped with one program. Using a CHIN, a physician could, for example, get lab reports from three hospitals and billing information from an insurance company, send prescription refills to a pharmacy and e-mail a colleague, all without ever switching computers and all while using the same software.
Physicians using the network supply their own modem and computer.
Mark Clemence, ACP Member, a general internist in Hales Corners, Wis., said that he finds the network's links to local hospitals the most helpful aspect of the service. By searching hospital records for patient information via the network from his home or office, he can spend less time in the hospital. And when he sees a new patient in the hospital, he goes to the network for past charts, old lab tests and prescriptions to get some background on the patient. It's up to third-party payers. With WHIN I can access patient information in terms of what insurance they're carrying and what HMO they belong to.