CommonWell Health Alliance announced that five new members had joined the health alliance, including MEDITECH, Merge, Kareo, PointClickCare and Surgical Information Systems.
CommonWell, a nonprofit trade association based in Boston, a trade association that aims to enhance interoperability in health IT, added EHR providers MEDITECH and Kareo and imaging systems company Merge as contributing members while long-term care software company PointClickCare and surgical software developer Surgical Information Systems became general members. The alliance's members now account for 70 percent of the acute care EHR market and 20 percent of the ambulatory care market, according to a news release.
CommonWell's patient identification, record location, patient privacy and consent and private data access offerings are live in six states, including North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Massachusetts, Washington and Illinois. MEDITECH is the organization's largest member to join since CommonWell's inception, according to the news release.
"As a founding member of CommonWell, Cerner is excited to welcome additional healthcare technology partners to the alliance," said Bob Robke, Cerner's representative on the CommonWell board, in a statement. "Today's announcement further illustrates that companies that traditionally have been seen as competitors can come together to advance and support something as important as industry-wide interoperability. We look forward to the growth opportunities that today’s announcement creates and encourage all healthcare technology companies and their clients to join our effort to make the free flow of patient health information a reality."