Mission
Our mission is to improve the delivery, coordination, and quality of health care across Arkansas through the state-wide use of health information technology and clinical data exchange.
Health information exchange isn’t just about technology—it’s about everything the movement of patient health information makes possible:
- Coordinating patient care efficiently among many different doctors
- Giving health care providers more complete patient information at the time of treatment
- Empowering providers and patients to make better treatment decisions—together
- Enabling patients to spend less time completing paperwork and more time talking with their doctors
- Improving the management of chronic diseases
- Reducing medication errors and duplicate tests
Bettering the quality of health care in Arkansas - Putting patients first
- Saving lives
Vision
Our vision is a healthier state population and a greatly improved health care system in which caregivers and patients have electronic access to more complete health records and are empowered to make better health decisions with this information.
It’s no secret that Arkansas consistently ranks in the lowest percentiles for most health measurements. But did you know that, according to recent statistics, there are 10-year differences in life spans depending where in the state you live? This is primarily due to the health care disparities that exist between rural and metropolitan areas.
Arkansas is moving forward with a number of health care reform initiatives that will improve health, access to and quality of care, and slow the growth of health care costs. These innovations include:
- Payment Improvement Initiative
- Health Care Workforce Development
- Consumer Engagement and Personal Responsibility
- Health Information Technology (HIT) Adoption
SHARE is part of the HIT initiative, which involves transitioning hospitals and clinics from paper health records to electronic health records (EHR), and then securely connecting those EHR systems to SHARE where patient health records are accessible to all participating treating providers.
Beyond HIT, SHARE also plays a critical role in all of the Arkansas health reform initiatives by providing the holistic patient health data that drives diagnosis and treatment decisions, and simplifying care coordination as we move from one caregiver to the next.
SHARE is a powerful tool that will improve the quality of patient care, enhance the coordination of care, and reduce the overall cost of health care in our state. The use of SHARE and the exchange of health information—combined with all of the health care reform initiatives—can improve the overall health of our state.
