Participate in and Learn from demonstration projects that test and evaluate the use of electronic clinical information for quality, safety and consumer access.

eHealth Initiative Foundation is a national multi-stakeholder initiative designed to raise national awareness of the value of and accelerate the use of electronic health information to address current U.S. health care challenges, including those related to quality, safety and efficiency.

The programs are designed to provide general support to health care improvement efforts conducted at the local level and also aim to build a “bridge” between national and local efforts.  One of the primary goals is to be a catalyst and a key focal point for national dialogue on the benefits and value of electronic health information for various health care improvement strategies to support both policy change and related national efforts focused on health IT standards for interoperability, financing, and policies for information sharing.  

Over the last four years, through a cooperative agreement with the Department of Health and Human Services Health Resources and Services Administration, eHI provided funding and technical support to ten state and community-based health information exchange initiatives across the U.S. These learning laboratories resulted in the identification of many lessons learned and practical tools and resources, that can be utilized broadly by healthcare leaders across the country. Several of the lessons learned and tools that emerged from the HRSA-funded Connecting Communities Program, including the eHI Value and Sustainability Model, are included in eHI's Connecting Communities Toolkit.

As part of its 2007 - 2008 plan, eHI is launching a new set of learning laboratories designed to test and evaluate the feasibility of using electronic clinical information from health information exchange to support a variety of use cases, including those related to performance reporting/quality improvement, safety, and potentially consumer access to information. Current projects include: The learning laboratory on safety, evaluating the use of electronic clinical information for drug safety and consumer access – Connecting Communities for Drug Safety; Medication Management Collaboration; Chronic Care Management Collaboration; Outcomes and Effectiveness Research Collaboration.  Email janet.marchibroda@ehealthinitiative.org if you are interested in participating in one of eHI's new learning laboratories.