Recent changes at Alabama’s Health Information Exchange (HIE) enables providers to connect in substantially less time than before, according to Bill Mixon, Operations Management Consultant for the HIE called “One Health Record” http://onhealthrecord.alabama.gov.
“Under the previous technology platform, connections to the HIE normally took around 90 to 100 days,” he explained. “To overcome this obstacle, we purchased a new interface software engine that allows the HIE to connect to a clinic or hospital in less than one day.”
The interface software is provided by eTransX www.etransx.com, a Tennessee-based company offering a hybrid-cloud solution. The goal is to work on a sustainability plan to help vendors connect to the eTransX interface, and to further develop outreach strategies to help providers see the value of being connected to the HIE.
Mixon reports that the system is capable of supporting hundreds of servers and will enable the HIE to grow as the state’s Medicaid Agency’s http://medicaid.alabama.gov planned Regional Care Organizations (RCO) are put in place. Mixon expects 1600 providers to connect to the RCOs during first two years of operation.
The State Medicaid agency will provide initial baseline analyses and technical assistance to RCOs, as they begin to develop their data collection and reporting systems. The goal is to have all measures in place when RCOs begin October 1, 2016.
In a recent development on December 18th, six Medicaid Regional Care Organizations (RCO) received probationary certification from the State with the goal to create medical homes for Medicaid enrollees. These groups may now proceed to work with healthcare providers to show that they have the ability to develop an adequate network by April 1, 2015.