The Illinois Health Information Exchange (ILHIE) has signed a data sharing agreement with Missouri Health Connection (MHC) to provide more patient information to physicians in both states. This data sharing is important for states that border each other such as Illinois and Missouri, since patients frequently cross state lines to receive care.
ILHIE’s network provides services to more than 2,000 providers at more than 450 healthcare organizations, including hospitals, physician practices, and community health centers. MHC’s network provides services to more than 45 percent of the inpatient care provided in Missouri, 62 hospitals, and more than 350 clinics.
“Healthcare does not neatly follow state borders, so information about patients’ needs to follow them”, said Raul Recarey, Executive Director of ILHIE. “Many Illinois patients from the southern portion of our state are referred to Missouri hospitals. The ILHIE/MHC agreement will allow providers from either state to have access to critically important patient data regardless of whether that data resides in Missouri or Illinois.”
In Maine a grant was awarded for $300,000 by HRSA for the first year and expects to award a similar amount for years two and three to improve healthcare coordination for the state’s veterans.
The Veterans Health Administration’s Office of Rural Health and their Veterans Rural Health Resource Center –Eastern Region (VRHRC-ER), along with the VA Maine Healthcare System, the state, and HealthInfoNet joined together to coordinate activities and to develop the grant application.
It can be challenging for veterans in Maine to have access to VA facilities since the state is large and rural. Therefore, the veterans also seek care from their closest community private hospitals, mental health providers, community health centers, and physician practices. This sometimes makes it difficult for the VA and physician providers to coordinate the veterans’ healthcare within the state.
The grant funding will connect the VA Maine Healthcare System comprised of the medical center located in Augusta Maine and eleven outpatient clinics to the statewide HIE, HealthInfoNet, a private non-profit organization that operates the HIE.
The HIE connects 35 of Maine’s 38 hospitals as well as close to 400 ambulatory practices across the state. Additionally, close to 1.2 million of Maine’s 1.3 million residents have information in the HIE system.