The terms “RHIO” and “Health Information Exchange” or “HIE” are often used interchangeably. RHIO (regional health information organization) is a group of organizations with a business stake in improving the quality, safety and efficiency of healthcare delivery. RHIOs are the building blocks of the proposed National Health Information Network (NHIN) initiative proposed by David Brailer, MD, and his team at the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONCHIT). To build a national network of interoperable health records, the effort must first develop at the local and state levels. The concept of NHIN requires extensive collaboration by a diverse set of stake holders. The challenges are many to achieve success for a health information exchange or a RHIO.
Information and data exchange is a critical to the delivery of quality patient care services and effectiveness of healthcare organizations. The benefits of appropriate sharing of health information among patients, physicians, and other authorized participants in the healthcare delivery value chain, are nearly universally understood and desired. Few organizations and systems have taken advantage of the full potential of the current state of the art in computer science and health informatics. Healthcare Information Exchange initiatives focus on the areas of technology, interoperability, standards utilization, harmonization, and business information systems while also supporting HIMSS activities focused on the national, state and local level.
Maine Readies for November Launch of Health Data Exchange
After three years of development, Maine's health information exchange, called HealthInfoNet, is set to go live at the end of November, Devore Culver, executive director of the health data exchange.
Network Chooses dbMotion to Improve Patient Care with Enterprise-wide Interoperability Platform
IRIS, the organizational network of Brussels’ 5 public hospitals, and dbMotion announced the agreement for a major project to provide an interoperability platform for medical information sharing to the Brussels region. The dbMotion™ Solution’s flexible platform meets the needs of IRIS’ clinicians for a portal enabling secure access to integrated patient information across its 11 sites. The result of having the patient’s fully integrated medical record available to the clinician at the point of care will be to improve safety and provide better, quality care.
Ask the HIE Steering Committee?
This month, HIMSS HIE Steering Committee Chair Dave Minch weighs in on our RHIO Spotlight articles: US Regional Health Information Organizations and the Nationwide Health Information Network: Any Lessons for Canadians? and Why RHIOs Aren't Working: Views from an American Who Can See White Rock, British Columbia, from His Backyard.
