HIE Rundown 9-15-17

network-200Health 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.

National Health IT Week: Demonstrating the Value of Health IT
National Health IT Week, October 2-6, 2017, is a nationwide awareness week focused on the value of healthcare IT. It is an independent week made up of partner-driven events offering healthcare stakeholders an opportunity to unite under one banner, one message: the benefits health information technology can bring to U.S. healthcare. National Health IT Week was founded by HIMSS and the Institute for e-Health Policy in 2006. The Administration, Congress, corporations, providers, and non-profit organizations around the country are all recognizing the value of shining the spotlight on health IT for one week every year.

National Quality Forum Interoperability 2016-2017 Final Report
NQF developed a common framework and measure concepts to serve as a foundation to address the current gaps in the measurement of interoperability and its impact. This measurement framework seeks to identify gaps where new measures need to be developed and identify suitable existing measures. They have released their final report on new interoperability quality measurements.

ONC Reports Released
EHR Adoption and Interoperability among US Skilled Nursing Facilities in 2016
Data released by the Office of the National Coordinator of Health Information Technology (ONC) report for the first time, nationally representative measures on electronic health record (EHR) adoption and health information exchange among skilled nursing facilities (SNFs). Most SNFs (64 percent) used EHRs to manage patient health information in 2016. About 22 percent of SNFs reported participating in a state or regional health information organization (HIO); with a fifth of facilities (18 percent) using both an EHR and an HIO.

Connecting Public Health Information Systems and Health Information Exchange Organizations
Lessons learned from the field. The ONC engaged Clinovations Government and Health (CGH) to explore how public health jurisdictions use existing health information exchange (HIE) organizations as a method to exchange information with health care providers. The project documents best practices and lessons learned in the use of HIE organizations to mediate connections to public health information systems. Read the report.

Connecting Health and Care for the Nation: A 10-Year Vision to Achieve an Interoperable Health IT Infrastructure
New technology and market changes have opened the door to creating a more integrated and flexible environment that will not only serve us better in the present day, but will allow for ongoing innovation in the future. This paper is an invitation to health IT stakeholders – clinicians, hospitals, public health, technology developers, payers, researchers, policymakers, individuals, and many others – to join ONC in figuring out how we can collectively achieve interoperability across the health IT ecosystem.

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. Is your vendor pledging? Find out who is on the list. Kno2 is reporting they recently signed the pledge.

Casamba Partners with Kno2 to Drive Interoperability Across Post-Acute, Ambulatory and Acute Care Settings
Kno2™ (@Kno2), the company that optimizes patient document exchange for everyone in healthcare, and Casamba, LLC (@CasambaCorp), developers of technology solutions for contract therapy, skilled nursing facilities, outpatient clinics, and home health and hospice care settings, announced a partnership agreement. Kno2’s interoperability platform will be integrated into Casamba’s Smart EMR, TherapySource™ and HealthWyse® products to drive easy, secure exchange of electronic patient documentation between Casamba’s post-acute care clients and other healthcare providers throughout the continuum.

Vidyo Integrates with Allscripts FollowMyHealth Patient Engagement Platform to Provide High Quality Telehealth Visits
Vidyo (@Vidyo), the integrated video collaboration technology leader announced that Allscripts (@Allscripts), an agnostic provider of electronic healthcare record technology has chosen the Vidyo.io™ platform to power virtual consultations directly embedded into the FollowMyHealth® patient portal. The on demand video visits can be launched directly from the patient portal workflow, simplifying remote consultations between physicians and patients.

eHealth Initiative Resource Center
Interoperability Files – Check out the new white paper resource in the eHealth Initiative’s (@eHealthDC) Resource Center: The Future of Blockchain in Quality Measurement Health Care.

Intel, Verizon, Philips, IBM, Teva Pharmaceuticals, Amazon Web Services Among Top Sponsors At 2017 Connected Health Conference
Diverse market drivers and innovators convene to advance digital health, presented by the Personal Connected Health Alliance in partnership with Partners Connected Health, CHC17 will take place in Boston, October 25-27 at the Seaport World Trade Center. Align with decision makers, gain market knowledge, showcase the latest technologies and get a front row seat to the future of technology-enabled health and wellness. CHC17 will go much deeper than discussing the latest wearable or app.