Connie Announces Expansion of Flagship Medication Safety Tool to Protect Connecticut Residents

Connie, the State of Connecticut's nonprofit health information exchange (HIE), marked another year of successfully leveraging a nation-leading innovative medication safety tool. Utilized by healthcare providers across the state who collectively serve more than 4.5 million patients, the tool's demonstrated impact has paved the way for expansion of the program.

The Medication Management tool ? developed by Connie based on the work of the Medication Reconciliation and Polypharmacy Work Group, per Connecticut General Assembly's Special Act 18-6 ? empowers healthcare providers not only by storing medication data and advancing deduplication processes, but also dispatching critical information to the point of care. As a result, Connecticut providers who utilize Connie have greater clarity into a patient's use of prescribed medications, allowing for the prevention of polypharmacy, or the simultaneous use of multiple drugs to treat a single ailment or condition.

"Polypharmacy is known to cause a lot of different consequences, including increased risk for adverse drug interactions, hospitalization, falls or even death," said Sean M. Jeffery, Pharm.D., director of clinical pharmacy services at Integrated Care Partners and a member of the Medication Reconciliation and Polypharmacy Work Group. "Since medication reconciliation is a challenge, having the right collaborative tools at our disposal is critical. The Medication Management tool is an important step in getting all providers on the same page and improving medication safety."

Connie's most recent 12-month phase of the Medication Management tool (January 2023 through December 2023) led to a significant reduction of the volume of duplicated prescribed medications for roughly 3.15 million patients across the state of Connecticut, from 187.6 million medication lines down to 21.5 million.

"For individuals in high-risk populations, such as those who are immunocompromised, having accurate, updated information is critical to avoiding adverse events," Jenn Searls, MHA, executive director of Connie, added. "This is truly an industry-leading tool, as polypharmacy is one of the biggest challenges facing our national healthcare system."

In addition to the Medication Management tool, Connie's participating organizations have access to multiple collaborative tools, including an advanced image-sharing tool, that helps inform care for thousands of residents across the New England state. Since Jan. 1, 2023, Connie has seen participation grow to include 42 hospitals and 1,978 ambulatory facilities, and dozens of other healthcare organizations that now benefit from access to data-sharing tools.

"Developing the tool to realize the vision of the Best Possible Medication History workgroup into a functioning Medication Management tool exemplifies what's so great about Connie," said Searls. "We're building the tools that providers in the state have actually requested to make patients' lives safer."

ABOUT CONNIE

As Connecticut's state-designated health information exchange (HIE), Connie is an independent, nonprofit healthcare technology company that collects, integrates, optimizes and securely shares health data to enable more patient-centric care and support public and population health initiatives to help build a healthier Connecticut. At Connie, we make healthcare delivery seamless and effective, ensuring that providers and care teams have the vital support and tools they need at the point of care to improve patient outcomes, and we empower patients to be engaged participants in their health decisions and well-being. To learn more, visit https://conniect.org/.