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.
HIMSS & eHI
As the movement of health information exchange (HIE) initiatives and regional health information organizations (RHIOs) continues to grow in states and communities across the country in support of the Administration's focus on a "Nationwide Health Information Network" or "NHIN", the eHealth Initiative (eHI) and Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) announced on September 13, 2006, a collaborative agreement that will strengthen this movement, offering complimentary education programs, tools and resources to state, regional and community leaders engaged in health information exchange and building RHIOs.
Please see the following for additional information:
HIMSS & Internet2
The Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) and Internet2 announced a partnership between the two organizations to explore the development of a secure, reliable and advanced networking solution for the transmission of medical information, messages and images throughout the broad healthcare industry. The two organizations will leverage each other’s expertise to explore the viability of an independent and logically interconnected medical network in the United States. See our press release.
Contact:
Pam Matthews, Sr. Director Business Information Systems
Phone: (706) 838-0583
pmatthews@himss.org
Holly Gaebel, Coordinator Business Information Systems
Phone: (312) 915-9227
hgaebel@himss.org
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.
Gateway Health IT Contracts to be Launched in 2008
According to a newly released report “The Top 10 State and Local Health Information Technology Gateway Opportunities for 2008” by INPUT, the Oregon Health Record Bank project has a list of gateway health IT contracts planned by the states in 2008. The ten opportunities examined in the report will be to design and develop innovative health IT system infrastructure representing $35 million in total spending. This will help vendors new to healthcare and health IT to break into this emerging market.
Louisiana Moving Ahead on Health IT with Several Grant Programs
The Federal Communications Commission awarded a $15.9 million grant to the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals to help physicians in state’s rural hospitals have access to electronically-stored medical information. The funding will provide 109 not-for-profit hospitals in the state with high speed digital connections by providing $5.3 million per year for three years to help hospitals purchase the hardware and software necessary to make the digital connections.
