Where is your Health Information Exchange Hood?
Health information exchange (HIE) is happening. Health Information Organizations (HIOs) are forming. Private and secure communication will happen on the Internet through the Nationwide Health Information Network (NwHIN). Providers will have to connect to the network through local HIOs. So just where is your HIE hood?
To date ONC has granted over $560M to states and territories to facilitate getting their exchanges up and running. The best place to start finding where you will connect is your state HIO. Here is the ONC’s State Health Information Exchange Cooperative Agreement Program and here are the key contacts for each state.
In other HIE News…
Memorial Hermann Healthcare System, the largest not-for-profit healthcare system in Texas, has launched a health information exchange in Houston that’s the first of its kind. The Memorial Hermann Information Exchange (MHiE) uses a secure, encrypted electronic network to integrate and store patients’ electronic medical records so they are easily accessible to authorized MHiE members.
The Electronic Healthcare Network Accreditation Commission (EHNAC) is a federally-recognized, standards development organization and tax-exempt, 501(c)(6) non-profit accrediting body designed to improve transactional quality, operational efficiency and data security in healthcare. EHNAC has announced the Outsourced Services Accreditation Program for Health Information Exchange Services (OSAP-HIE), which will evaluate outsourced HIE vendors against high standards of quality in handling protected health information.
The Community Health Information Collaborative (CHIC) has consolidated its business operations with Minnesota Health Information Exchange, LLC (MN HIE). The result is a single State-Certified HIO, HIE-Bridge™. HIE-Bridge currently serves 10 hospitals, 50 clinics, two long-term care facilities and three federally-qualified healthcare clinics.
Axolotl HIE solutions are now part of OptumInsight health care management systems and services.”Axolotl Health Information Exchange (HIE) networks interconnect separate and disparate hospital IS systems and physician Electronic Health Record (EHR) software, as well as any other medical trading partners, such as pharmacies, diagnostic labs, imaging groups, visiting nurses, patients, etc. Interoperability between these systems allows instant delivery and secure receipt of comprehensive patient information wherever and whenever needed.” “OptumInsight – previously Ingenix – specializes in technology services, information, analytics, business services and consulting. We provide resources that combine connectivity with intelligence to major participants in the health industry – enabling them to make better business and health care decisions.”
Humana and the Wisconsin Health Information Exchange (WHIE) conducted a study from December 2008 to March 2010 to evaluate the effectiveness of community-based HIEs. The newly released study details show that using health information exchanges in emergency departments results in improved provider efficiencies and health plan cost savings.
West Central Ohio Health Information Exchange (WCOHIE) has signed a contract with the Ohio Health Information Partnership and CliniSync, Ohio’s statewide health information exchange (HIE). The Ohio Health Information Partnership is a nonprofit entity whose mission is to assist physicians and other providers with the adoption and implement of health information technology (HIT) throughout Ohio, specifically in the adoption and use of electronic health records.