The University of Colorado Hospital, a member of the University of Colorado Health system, has signed an agreement to join the Denver-based Colorado Regional Health Information Organization.

The Aurora, Colo., hospital will connect its Epic electronic health-record system with CORHIO's health information exchange, which currently includes 28 hospitals, more than 660 office-based providers, 38 long-term and post-acute care facilities, four behavioral health centers and two medical labs. CORHIO added seven Denver-area hospitals just last month and is in the process of contracting with additional sites.

“Interconnected electronic health records are an important part of the future of healthcare,” Bruce Schroffel, CEO of the University of Colorado Health system, said in a release.“We're focused on getting every UCHealth location connected through the same medical record system, which will increase quality and efficiency, and CORHIO allows us to connect to outside hospitals and clinics across the state.”

Hospitals participating in the exchange share patient information with community-based providers throughout Colorado. It provides physicians and other healthcare providers with access to information like hospital discharge notifications, lab test results, imaging reports, physician transcript reports, newborn screening results and referral information.

CORHIO is a not-for-profit organization established under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to establish a statewide health information exchange for Colorado. It has been granted federal funds in excess of $10.8 million.

The University of Colorado Hospital will be the fifth and final hospital in the University of Colorado Health system to join the health information exchange. Memorial Hospital Central and Memorial Hospital North, both in Colorado Springs, Colo., Medical Center of the Rockies in Loveland, Colo., and Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins, Colo., are already members.