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
Save the Date! 2019 State Healthcare IT Connect Summit
The 2019 State Healthcare IT Connect Summit (@HealthITCONNECT) marks the 10th anniversary of the program. The conference, being held March 18-20, 2019, has grown and evolved into an important national venue for public and private sector thought leaders to share ideas and benchmark implementation strategies of State Health IT Systems.
Patient Safety Awareness Week – March 10-16, 2019
GLHC is proud to support Patient Safety Awareness Week. Check out our recent guest column in the Grand Rapids Business Journal – Patient safety and what health care organizations are doing about it: https://t.co/ASLLbD3eTH @emmhox via @grbj #HIT #HIE #EHR #PatientSafety pic.twitter.com/CWRDgwyD8O
— GLHC_HIE (@GLHC_HIE) March 6, 2019
News and Noted
New HLC and BPC Report Calls for Public and Private Sector Actions to Advance Health IT Interoperability and Improve Patient-Centered Care, Complementing CMS and ONC Proposed Rules
The Healthcare Leadership Council (HLC) (@HealthInFocus) and Bipartisan Policy Center (@BPC_Bipartisan) released a new report that recommends public and private sector actions that will advance health information technology (IT) interoperability, giving providers easier access to patients’ clinical data and empowering individuals with increased access to their own health information. The actions support better health and higher quality, safer, more cost-effective, patient-centered care. Several recommendations in the report align with proposed rules just released by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC).
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.
Sequoia Project Convenes Industry on Information Blocking Policies
The Sequoia Project is launching a new workgroup for the Interoperability Matters cooperative focused on information blocking. Launched in October 2018, Interoperability Matters is a public-private cooperative, with member and public events focused on addressing the key remaining issues that hinder nationwide health IT interoperability. The initiative is open to broad private and public sector participation, and this new workgroup will collectively discuss, evaluate and comment on the information blocking requirements and exceptions outlined in the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT’s (ONC) proposed rule published in the Federal Register on Monday, March 4, 2019.
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.
Share Your Great Ideas for the Future of HIEs at the SHIEC 2019 Annual Conference
Early Bird Registration open for SHIEC 2019 Annual Conference. DEADLINE: Speaker Nominations Due Friday, March 29! – Every year, the SHIEC Annual Conference features an outstanding roster of speakers – from SHIEC members to industry thought leaders – and they are inviting you to join them! They are looking for speakers for this year’s conference, taking place August 18-21, 2019 at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center, National Harbor, MD. View application.
Share your insights, best practices, lessons learned & successes during #SHIEC19! Speaker proposals due 3/29. Learn more: https://t.co/SL1xIbMijF pic.twitter.com/LXk1FieHRw
— SHIEC (@SHIEClive) March 5, 2019
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.
We caught up with Jitin Asnaani, Executive Director of CommonWell Health Alliance about their participation in the Interoperability Showcase and what is new for the organization. Take a listen.
Resources
HealthDataAnswers.net
- We have moved our ONC news and updates to What’s Happening at the ONC series posts on alternate Fridays.
- Find more news and updates on State HIE organizations in our State HIE News and Updates series posts on alternate Fridays.
Interoperability and the Quest to Solve Healthcare’s Seemingly Unsolvable Problem
Despite years of effort, healthcare has yet to achieve true interoperability. Physicians, health systems, vendors and the government all claim to back initiatives that support the sharing of healthcare data between providers. Yet very few hospitals today can pull up the complete medical history of a single patient coming through their ER doors – and thus the quest for healthcare interoperability remains very much alive.
Download this new e-book from Medicomp that is sharing the untold story of interoperability. It is exploring the reality of the current landscape, why progress has been so slow and how we can collaborate to deliver safer, more cost-effective patient care.
News From…
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.
eHealth Initiative Resource Center
Interoperability Files – Check out the new white paper resource in the eHealth Initiative’s (@eHealthDC) Resource Center: Implementation of Behavioural and Medical Health Management Applications: Reducing High Intensity Medicaid Services Utilization for Individuals with Serious Mental Illness