NM health info exchange helps rural hospitals

‘Great benefit’ is that each hospital can choose the solutions that work for them

The state’s designated health information exchange, SYNCRONYS, announced May 10 that it has partnered with the New Mexico Rural Hospital Network to help ease the flow of patients’ medical information across hospital networks.

“The past two years of the pandemic highlighted the importance of timely access to information to both care for patients and manage a public health crisis,” Terri Stewart, chief administrative officer of SYNCRONYS, said in a statement.

The Rural Hospital Network comprises 11 hospitals across the state in Taos, Portales, Silver City and other New Mexico towns.

The network helps member hospitals with peer networking and education, and benefits members through group purchasing discounts, according to NMRHN’s website.

The network’s executive director Stephen Stoddard called SYNCRONYS “a great resource to our member hospitals,” adding that the group looks “forward to partnering with SYNCRONYS to launch the solutions for the hospitals.”

“A great benefit of this partnership is that each hospital can select the solutions that work for them and their community,” Stoddard added.

Ann Nevarez, an executive assistant with SYNCRONYS, said that, on average, patients see about 18 providers in their lifetime. She said SYNCRONYS’ technology allows for the consolidation of information from those providers to help alleviate the amount of paperwork patients have to fill out, which also allows “more time for discussions about health concerns and treatments” between patient and provider.

SYNCRONYS, a not-for-profit organization formed in 1990, is recognized by the New Mexico Department of Health as the agent for hospital public health reporting, and has helped the state with the daily count of new cases, hospitalizations and virusrelated deaths during the COVID pandemic.