Case Study: Atlantic Health System achieves regional health information exchange and improved care coordination with Optum

Innovative Relationship Setting Strong Course in Healthcare Reform

Atlantic Health System partnered with Optum to solve a dual challenge: connect hospitals, affiliated and community physicians (including those without EHRs) for secure clinical collaboration, and improve revenue-cycle and patient engagement processes to meet healthcare reform demands. Optum’s RelayHealth platform was used for ePrescribing, secure messaging, results management and financial services to provide EMR-like functionality and online patient interactions.

Optum implemented RelayHealth clinical and financial solutions alongside Horizon Ambulatory Care to create the Jersey Health Connect HIO, enabling data sharing across 1,925 physicians for over 1 million patients and supporting nearly 800 physicians and 70,000 patients on patient-facing services. The deployment improved result delivery and claims processing, reduced manual work and outsourcing, earned a CHIME collaboration award, supported Atlantic’s selection for a CMS shared‑savings ACO, and drove measurable financial gains—up‑front collections rose from $1.5M in 2010 to $2.7M in 2011—while Optum continued to provide strong post‑launch support.

Atlantic Health System

Kevin Heglar

Manager Financial Systems, Patient Financial Services