HIE Rundown – 8-10-18

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.

News and Noted

Five Reasons Why Health Catalyst Acquired Medicity and What It Means for Interoperability, as Explained by Dale Sanders, President of Technology
Following the Health Catalyst (@HealthCatalyst) acquisition of Medicity in July 2018, Health Catalyst President of Technology, Dale Sanders, talks about the reasons for the acquisition, the state of Health Information Exchanges (HIEs), the limitations of current healthcare technology, and how Medicity’s technologies strengthen the Health Catalyst Data Operating System (DOS™) and improve interoperability, helping to change the digital trajectory of healthcare.

5 lessons learned from a decade of interoperability
From the Allscripts (@Allscripts) blog – UPMC is a leader in health IT innovation, and one area where it has excelled is with interoperability. One of the largest health systems in the country, UPMC launched an interoperability project in the mid-2000s to connect multiple electronic health record (EHR) systems along with other data sources. It now manages a comprehensive lifetime record of care for more than 8 million patients across western Pennsylvania.

Listen

Tune in to Healthcare de Jure as we serve up the hottest healthcare issues of the day, all from a legal point of view. From public policies and Federal initiatives to privacy and security, join host Matt R. Fisher (@Matt_R_Fisher) as he and his guests discuss a smorgasbord of topics, giving hospitals, physicians, vendors and patients a seat at the table.  In this episode Matt chats with Teresa Rivera, President and CEO, UHIN about value, the role of data clearinghouses and how health information exchanges support care coordination.

News From…

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.

SHIEC Announces Three New HIE Members Ahead of 4th Annual National Conference in AtlantaAnnouncing the addition of three new HIE members: HealthInfoNet (Maine), OneHealthPort, (Washington) and WISHIN, (Wisconsin). These new HIE members bring new HIE members from “coast to coast and in between,” according to Kelly Hoover Thompson, CEO of SHIEC. The addition of these new HIE members comes just weeks before the SHIEC 2018 National Conference, the 4th annual conference of the national HIE collaborative.

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.

Blog Post: What Summer Vacation?!? Connecting to Carequality – While families headed to the beaches, children caught fireflies and parents counted down the time until school was back in session, we at CommonWell have had a very productive summer. There are many updates we are excited to share via our blog in the coming weeks, but the most frequent question I receive is “how is the connection to Carequality going?”. And so, I thought I would provide this update first, answering that question with one word:

Resources

HealthDataAnswers.net

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: Big Data Analytics Best Practices: Understanding its capabilities and potential benefits for healthcare organizations