In California, the California Integrated Data Exchange (Cal INDEX) www.calindex.org and Inland Empire Health Information Exchange (IEHIE) www.iehie.org announced a planned merger to create a comprehensive nonprofit Health Information Exchange. The new HIE will combine the 11.7 million claims records from Cal INDEX with the 5 million clinical patient records of IEHIE and its 150 participating partners.
Claudia Williams former White House Technology Senior Adviser, will lead as CEO effective February 1, 2017. The merger expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2017 will operate as a tax-exempt public benefit corporation under a new name.
Also, in Los Angeles County, the LA Care Health Plan www.lacare.org has worked with Safety Net Connect http://safetynetconnect.com to connect 21 hospitals to their health information exchange following a successful pilot. The hospitals now have access to real-time data exchange and care coordination using the eConnect system and users can exchange real-time alerts and use the HL7 Admit Discharge Transfer protocol.
In the Midwest, three HIEs are taking part in a pilot to develop and test a “Patient Centered Data Home”. So far, they have successfully exchanged patient health data among their systems and across state lines.
The 12 month initiative funded by HHS www.hhs.gov in the Office of the National Coordinator www.healthit.gov will allow the secure exchange of millions of patient health records which will ultimately result in a more connected Midwest
The partners in the exchange include the Indiana Health Information Exchange (IHIE) www.ihie.org, Michiana Health Information Network (MHIN) www.mhin.org, and East Tennessee Health Information Network (etHIN) www.ethin.org. They have reached an agreement to enable data-sharing among their HIEs, ensuring that a patient’s healthcare record follows them whenever they seek care.
Other partners involved in the exchange include Great Lakes Health Connect, (Grand Rapids MI) http://gl-hc.org HealthLinc, (Bloomington IN) http://healthlinc.org Kentucky Health Information Exchange (Frankfort KY)http://khie.ky.gov, and the Health Collaborative (Cincinnati, OH) http://healthcollab.org.