Health Information Exchange (HIE) is happening every minute of every day. Your personal health information is moving and being viewed to improve the quality of your healthcare and lower the costs. The job will not be complete until all health records are digital and interoperable. Here’s what’s happening to make that reality.
Events
HIMSS Interoperability Showcase at HIMSS20
Tuesday, March 10, 2020 10:00 am – 6:00 pm ET
Wednesday, March 11, 2020 9:30 am – 6:00 pm ET
Thursday, March 12, 2020 9:30 am – 4:00 pm ET
Learn more.
Breaking Barriers to Interoperable Healthcare
Held at HIMSS conferences at locations across the globe, HIMSS Interoperability Showcases are unique events where healthcare stakeholders come together to demonstrate the benefits of using standards-based interoperable health IT solutions for effective and secure health data information exchange.
Today’s healthcare providers have many important and competing needs and goals. Whether the end goal is to be on a path of continuous improvement, to realize improved patient safety and outcomes, or meeting regional government mandates, HIMSS Interoperability Showcases serve the healthcare community by promoting uptake of standards-based solutions that improve the potential for health information exchange between systems, providers, and organizations in order to optimize clinical care.
4th Interoperability Forum
JUST ANNOUNCED DURING #ONC2020: 4th Interoperability Forum taking place August 10-11, 2020 in DC. Registration to open in the Spring. pic.twitter.com/R2aMDp8F38
— ONC (@ONC_HealthIT) January 28, 2020
News and Noted
WEDI Shares Results of Prior Authorization Survey in Testimony to NCVHS
WEDI (@WEDIonline), the nation’s leading nonprofit authority on the use of health IT to create efficiencies in health care information exchange and a trusted advisor to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), presented prior authorization (PA) survey results during testimony late last year before the HHS National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics (NCVHS). In the meeting, Jay Eisenstock, Chair of the WEDI Board of Directors, shared how the results highlighted technology limitations, increased PA requirements and the desire for mandated standards.
UHIN turns to NextGate for Reliable Patient Matching and Statewide Data Exchange
NextGate (@NextGate), the global leader in healthcare enterprise identification, announced that UHIN, a leading health information exchange (HIE), has selected its cloud-based Enterprise Master Patient Index (EMPI) as the foundation for patient identification and interoperability across the state. NextGate’s market-leading EMPI, which manages patient identities for more than two-thirds of the U.S. population, will replace UHIN’s preceding IBM patient matching software.
CNBC’s Christina Farr: Epic Systems, a major medical records vendor, is warning customers it will stop working with Google Cloud
Account reps from Epic Systems, one of the largest providers of medical record systems, have started calling customers with a clear message: We will not be pursuing further integrations with Google Cloud. Epic’s reps told customers the company would instead focus its energies on Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure. They said the company decided to halt development with Google Cloud because it wasn’t seeing sufficient interest among its health system customers to warrant the investment.
DirectTrust Announces Second Annual Summit
DirectTrust (@DirectTrustorg) announced its Second Annual DirectTrust Summit will be held at the Washington Marriott Georgetown in Washington, DC, June 9-10, 2020. DirectTrust also announced its Call for Speaker Proposals is now open to health information industry experts interested in speaking at the Summit.
Now Available: Interoperability Forum Slides and Recording
Video from ONC’s 3rd Interoperability Forum’s plenary sessions is now available on HealthIT.gov. Catch up on what was said by NHSX’s Deputy Chief Executive, Dr. Simon Eccles, FDA’s Principal Deputy Commissioner of Food and Drugs, Dr. Amy Abernethy, National Coordinator, Don Rucker, and Deputy National Coordinator, Steve Posnack. Observations from track sessions were covered as part of the day 2 wrap up. View the slides and recording.
OCR HIPAA Right of Access FAQs: The HHS Office for Civil Rights released FAQs about the HIPAA right of access as it relates to apps designated by individual patients and application programming interfaces used by a healthcare provider’s electronic health record system. Read the OCR Patient Right of Access FAQs.
To Read
#Interop in 2020: CommonWell Members Weigh In – By CommonWell Health Alliance – Change can be a good thing, and in a new year, it’s inevitable. With 2020 already well underway, a new Executive Director at our helm, and a few new and potentially game-changing government regulations on the horizon, CommonWell members are embracing it. We asked a few members to share their predictions for interoperability in 2020. Here’s what they had to say:
Interoperability is complicated – By Doug Fridsma, MD PhD – In this week’s discussion, I want to dive a little deeper into the characteristics of interoperability and why I believe the solutions are not black and white, but rather a shade of gray. Understanding what interoperability is (and what it is not) will help us chart a path to achieving nationwide health information exchange and interoperability.
Interoperability in 2020: The Bridge Between Average and Exponential Healthcare Growth – By Abhinav Shashank – Achieving true interoperability across the care continuum has been a top priority for providers, payers, and other key stakeholders for more than a decade. The HITECH Act in 2009 saw providers move from paper-based records to EHRs. However, achieving 100% interoperability is still a feat healthcare must achieve to realize coordinated and patient-centric care. Here’s a brief history of interoperability and how much still needs to be achieved.
HIE and Standards Organizations
The Sequoia Project
The Sequoia Project (@SequoiaProject) was chartered to advance the implementation of secure, interoperable nationwide health information exchange. The ONC transitioned management of its eHealth Exchange to The Sequoia Project for maintenance. Since 2012, the Exchange has grown to become the largest health information exchange network in the country.
The Strategic Health Information Exchange Collaborative
SHIEC (@SHIEClive) is the National Trade Association for Health Information Exchange Organizations. It is routine for important data about patients’ ongoing care to reside in multiple unconnected organizations. SHIEC member HIEs use information technology and trusted relationships in their service areas to enable secure, authorized exchange of patient information among disparate providers. By providing enhanced access to all available and relevant patient data SHIEC HIE members aim to improve the quality, coordination, and cost-effectiveness of health care provided in their communities. Read their news feed.
The CommonWell
CommonWell Health Alliance (@CommonWell) is devoted to the simple vision that health data should be available to individuals and providers regardless of where care occurs. Additionally, provider access to this data must be built-in health IT at a reasonable cost for use by a broad range of health care providers and the people they serve.
A New Chapter Begins! – By Paul L. Wilder, Executive Director, CommonWell Health Alliance – As many of you hopefully saw, CommonWell announced a new Executive Director. And if you didn’t see it (and if this blog’s byline didn’t give it away), spoiler alert – it’s me! Over the next few months, I hope to share more about my personal and professional connection to this field, but for this first introduction, I wanted to share more about why this role is so important to me and how I see my role at CommonWell unfolding.
Resources
4 Emerging Trends in Patient Identification
The issue of inadequate patient matching and duplicate records has grown increasingly complex as more data is generated and more applications are introduced into the healthcare environment. As data sharing matures and the industry pivots toward value, an enterprise view of patient information is essential for informed clinical-decision making, effective episodic care, and a seamless patient-provider experience during every encounter.
Download this eBook by NextGate to see how developing technologies are shaping patient matching efforts today and into the future.
eHealth Initiative Resource Center
Interoperability Files – Check out the new white paper resource in the eHealth Initiative’s (@eHealthDC) Resource Center: Data exchanges based on blockchain in m-Health applications
ONC Interoperability Pledge
Companies that provide 90 percent of electronic health records used by hospitals nationwide as well as the top five largest health care systems in the country have agreed to implement three core commitments: Consumer Access, No Blocking/Ensuring Transparency, and Standards. The ONC (@ONC_HealthIT) wants vendors to sign a pledge. Is your vendor pledging? Find out who is on the list.