Health Information Exchange Consensus Conference Reinforces Key Role of State-Leve...( CHICAGO Nov. 12 /- Health informa...),Health

CHICAGO, Nov. 12 /PRNewswire/ -- Health information exchange (HIE) organizations with public-private governance and a state-wide mission are an important and logical organizational unit for advancing HIE efforts, according to the interim findings (http://www.staterhio.org/conference/documents/consensus_Conference_Workboo k_F inal.pdf) of an ongoing study carried out by the Foundation of Research and Education (FORE) of the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA), under contract to the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology in the Department of Health and Human Services.

The interim findings, "Building Sustainable Health Information Exchange: Roles for State-Level Public-Private Partnerships," was the focus of discussion at a consensus conference on Nov. 5-6 in Washington, D.C. -- attended by 140 attendees representing 18 states, federal agencies, providers, payers and health information technology vendors. New research identifies three key roles for state level entities: convener, collaborator and operator -- and defines each. The conference consisted of panels operational state level entities, updates from the national level, and breakout sessions at which participants contributed directly to the dialogue around the study areas of state-level HIE governance, services and sustainability, and their role in supporting development of nationwide HIE capabilities.

"State-wide governance for health information exchange, grounded in public-private partnership, can help assure coherence between state health policy aims, consumer protections, and local HIE capacity building efforts while providing a critical link to national level initiatives," observed Lynn Dierker, RN, Project Director.

The conference and preliminary report are part of a FORE project that began in 2006 under an HHS contract. The pro
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