HIE in Stage 2
On MU Live! this week our hosts, Jim Tate and Roberta Mullin, interviewed John Tempesco.  John is a subject matter expert contributor to this site and  the Chief Marketing Officer of ICA. ICA made news recently with their involvement in the success transfer of clinical data between the two largest health systems in Kansas.
On the show a number of topics were discussed on health information exchange requirements in Stage 2 Meaningful Use including:
- Stage 2 requires that a provider send a summary of care record for more than 50% of transitions of care and referrals.
- The rule also requires that a provider electronically transmit a summary of care for more than 10% of transitions of care and referrals.
- At least one summary of care document sent electronically to recipient with different EHR vendor or to CMS test EHR.
Key discussion points along the way included:
- Stage 2 Meaningful Use requires providers to communicate with their patient in an electronic way. HIEs can play a role in aggregating this communication process rather than a patient having to go through another maze (although electronic) trying to figure out password, web addresses, etc. from each of their providers.
- Combining the concepts of the Direct Project and Email is an effective way to communicate to potential customers/patients.
- Stage 2 Meaningful use  is another step toward breaking down the barriers to vendor collaboration, a major hurdle to true interoperability.
- In order for true meaningful use to occur the vendors must be able to send and receive information in the workflow of the physician, in real time through standards. This will probably happen through SaaS or ASP models.
You can download a podcast of Tuesday’s show.