BROOMFIELD - Children's Hospital Colorado - including its operation in Broomfield - has connected to a state health-information exchange, which is a protected online database of patient records.

Financial terms of the agreement were not immediately available. Patient lab test results, imaging reports and other information will be put in the protected online database as part of the new agreement between the hospital and the Colorado Regional Health information Exchange Organization, or CORHIO.

The 20,000-square-foot Children's Hospital Colorado Therapy Care Center in Broomfield sees more than 22,000 patients per year, according to the hospital system.

Over time, the protected online database is expected to save health-care providers money, since it can help reduce the number of unnecessary repeat tests done, as well as help with other cost-saving measures, CORHIO executives have said in the past.

Since 2009, Children's Hospital Colorado has shared patient records electronically with Exempla Healthcare - including Exempla Good Samaritan Medical Center in Lafayette - and Kaiser Permanente Colorado through a separate electronic medical records system that all three health-care providers use.

In general, hospitals, doctors and other health-care providers pay up to $2,000 for one-time set-up and training to join the CORHIO program, according to the group's website. That amount currently is being waived through June to entice new sign-ups, according to the website. Hospitals then will pay annual fees of $2,400 to $25,200 and more to maintain the information, depending on how many beds they have at their facilities.

CORHIO is a nonprofit group supported mostly by federal grants and awards from groups such as the Colorado Health Foundation. The group plans to become self-sustaining over time through user fees.