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
HIMSS19 – February 11-15, 2019 in Orlando FL
HIMSS Interoperability Showcase™
Hall F – Booth 9100
Satellite Locations: Booth 888
The HIMSS Interoperability Showcase ™ is the highest trafficked area of the exhibit floor and is packed with demonstration areas, a large education theater, a product marketplace and more. Our mission is to demonstrate the power of standards-based interoperability by showcasing systems exchanging and using data in real time to improve care, outcomes and experience. We strive to provide attendees with a broad picture of the opportunities and successes in the interoperability community and therefore host demonstrations on a variety of topics, such as pediatric cancer, heart failure and substance abuse treatment. At least one activity begins every 15 minutes in the showcase – from use case demonstrations to education sessions to community meetups and more.
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.
News and Noted
MEDITECH Furthers Commitment to Interoperability as Northwestern Medical Center Goes Live with CommonWell Services
MEDITECH (@MEDITECH), an Enterprise Health Record (EHR) vendor and Contributor Member of CommonWell Health Alliance®, has successfully deployed CommonWell interoperability services at Northwestern Medical Center (St. Albans, VT), taking another meaningful step forward in the goal of more connected care between healthcare 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.
Sequoia Project at HIMSS
Join us for the @sequoiaproject’s networking reception at @HIMSS 2019 #interopshowcase on February 13th! All conference attendees are invited! pic.twitter.com/AO1IZ6B5e1
— The Sequoia Project (@sequoiaproject) January 3, 2019
- The Sequoia Project Sip and Learn (HIMSS19)
February 13, 2019
Join The Sequoia Project and HIMSS19 for an open cocktail reception February 13 from 4-6 pm ET in the Interoperability Showcase at HIMSS19. Current members and potential members will celebrate the progress towards nationwide health information exchange. - PULSE: A Health IT Disaster Response Platform
10:30am – 11:30am Tuesday, February 12
Orlando – Orange County Convention Center – W230A
When disaster strikes, and families are relocated to shelters in their community or even further afield, prescription refills and other healthcare needs become more challenging. The Sequoia Project is leading the Patient Unified Lookup System for Emergencies (PULSE), a nationwide health IT disaster response platform that can be deployed at the city, county or state level to authenticate disaster healthcare volunteer providers. - Interop Town Hall: Have We Kept the Patient Focus?
4:30 – 5:50 pm Tuesday, Feb. 12 - HIMSS Interoperability Showcase™|Hall F – Booth 9100| Tangerine Ballroom
Carequality at HIMSS
- A Use Case RoadMap: Driving Policies & Standards (HIMSS19)
February 11, 2019 | Orlando, FL HIMSS19 Innovation and Conference Center – W230A
1:15pm – 2:15pm
Interoperability requires an alignment of policies, standards, and technologies. Harmonization across these components is more easily achieved when specific value propositions are identified, and stakeholders are in concurrence. Therefore, much progress is driven incrementally – often leveraging a use case-driven approach. This session explores the near-term use case roadmap for industry consortia and the implications for care delivery and value-based initiatives. - Making True Nationwide Interoperability a Reality
February 13, 2019 | Orlando, FL HIMSS19 Interoperability Showcase Education Theater
9:30 – 10:30 a.m.
CommonWell Health Alliance and Carequality have been working together for the past two years to expand nationwide interoperability for the betterment of the health care industry. Today, the connection between the two organizations is live, allowing care venues to exchange patient data from any organization using the connection, propelling better patient care. In this session, leaders from both establishments will share their progress so far and discuss what’s on the horizon. They will be joined by representatives of health care organizations who have implemented the connection and are already seeing benefits.
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.
SHIEC at HIMSS
- HIE Emergency Preparedness and Response: RSVPs from Florence and Michael
Session #88
Wednesday, February 13
8:30 – 9:30 am ET
W204AHIEs have served their communities well during times of crisis this past year. Learn how the Georgia Regional Academic Community Health Information Exchange (GRAChIE) and Alabama’s State HIE Program, One Health Record, supported Hurricane Florence and Michael victims by making their health records available at evacuation sites. Find out how these HIEs helped deliver coordinated care to patients impacted by these natural disasters. Access to health information is critical during emergencies, and HIEs are delivering patient records during our country’s most vulnerable situations.
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.
CommonWell Health Alliance Launches CommonWell ConnectorTM Program
CommonWell Health Alliance announced a new option for health IT vendors and health care practitioners looking to connect to the nationwide CommonWell interoperability network. Through creation of this new CommonWell Connector™ program, participating CommonWell members who provide integration platforms and services will now be able to offer CommonWell services to their customers, including both to provider organizations and to other end-user facing platforms such as EHRs.
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