eHealth Initiative applauds federal move to link national standards to state and local health information exchange efforts
December 12, 2006 |
December 12, 2006 Washington, D.C. The Department of Health and Human Services' plan to support trial implementations for the Nationwide Health Information Network (NHIN) in 2007 is a laudable next step towards fulfilling the vision of secure electronic health information exchange through an interconnected network of networks that reaches across the country.
We applaud the Department of Health and Human Services' Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology for guiding efforts through to this important next step, said Janet Marchibroda, chief executive officer of the eHealth Initiative (eHI). HHSs linkage of its work related to the harmonization and adoption of standards and the development of prototype architectures to state and local initiatives will help to facilitate electronic information mobility among national, regional and local actors, as well as public and private sector efforts--all of which need to connect to improve our nation's healthcare system.
HHS announced last week that details of the procurement process for the trial implementations would be released in spring 2007. The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONCHIT) will solicit proposals to create the trial implementations and work toward integrating them with its broader Nationwide Health Information Network initiative.
Since 2003, eHI has been bringing together stakeholders from every sector of healthcare to develop common principles, policies and solutions to mobilize information securely to improve health and healthcare and to align these efforts with its on-the-ground support and guidance to states, regions and communities which are improving health and healthcare through health information exchange. This year, eHI released its Connecting Communities Toolkit, a distillation of the knowledge that eHI has developed through its work with pioneers and leading experts to support stakeholders as they navigate the organizational, legal, financial, clinical and technical aspects of health information technology (HIT) and health information exchange to improve patient care.
According to recent eHI research, four out of five states already have or are planning a roadmap supporting HIT and health information exchange.
We know that healthcare is essentially local, and leadership at the state, regional and community levels is what drives implementation through shared vision, goals and a plan, Marchibroda said. But national standards and policies are needed to facilitate actions needed at all levels of the system--national, regional, state and local--so that patients, providers, and those responsible for population health can access the information they need, where and when it is needed.
About the eHealth Initiative and its Foundation
The eHealth Initiative and its Foundation are independent, non-profit affiliated organizations whose missions are the same: to drive improvements in the quality, safety, and efficiency of healthcare through information and information technology.
eHI engages multiple stakeholders, including clinicians, consumer and patient groups, employers, health plans, healthcare IT suppliers, hospitals and other providers, laboratories, pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers, pharmacies, public health, and public sector agencies, as well as its growing coalition of more than 280 state, regional and community-based collaboratives, to develop and disseminate common principles, policies and best practices for improving the quality, safety and effectiveness of America's healthcare through information and information technology. For more information, go to http://www.ehealthinitiative.org.
For more information about eHIs Connecting Communities Toolkit, go to http://toolkit.ehealthinitiative.org.
For more information about state level initiatives go to: http://www.ehealthinitiative.org/assets/documents/StatesGettingConnectedeHIIssueBrief001.pdf
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Karla Hurter
For: eHealth Initiative
khurter@health2resources.com
(703) 319-0957
