The American Health Information Management Association Foundation has landed a one-year, $1.2 million grant from the Office of the National Coordinator to continue the State-level Health Information Exchange (SL-HIE) Consensus Project.
The project calls for the foundation – the philanthropic and charitable arm of AHIMA – to assist states with nationwide health information exchange adoption, planning and implementation.
The project supports opportunities presented by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) to advance HIE development in a way that has a positive impact on healthcare.
In ARRA's new health information technology agenda, states will play a pivotal role in creating and implementing healthcare IT plans, directing resources and ensuring that HIE investments yield improvements in the quality, safety and efficiency of healthcare. The health IT provisions of ARRA require states to align resources, manage implementation and coordinate activities among an array of new programs and obligations.
The Consensus Project provides practical, field-based strategies and practices combined with consensus-based solutions to advance HIE adoption, implementation and use to improve quality and increase systemic efficiencies.
"In preparation to respond to ARRA's HITECH Act, states are being challenged to achieve and demonstrate value and impact from HIE to improve health and healthcare delivery," said Mary Madison, executive director of the AHIMA Foundation. "The Consensus Project will continue to provide practical and field-based resources to support this work."
The Consensus Project has been sponsored by the ONC and managed by the AHIMA Foundation since 2006. It is led by a 13-member steering committee of SL-HIE leaders and supports an SL-HIE leadership forum that is open to all states.
To ensure resources are effectively and efficiently deployed, states will need comprehensive strategies and best practices that take into account the complex challenges of advancing interoperability and serve the collective needs of all stakeholders, Madison said.
States will have to:
- Expand the knowledge base regarding effective HIE and SL-HIE governance, organizational effectiveness and sustainability of SL-HIE efforts in the emerging nationwide context.
- Provide an effective state-level HIE "voice" for timely information about SL-HIE experiences and perspectives and to convey strategic input from the forum that advances HIE development across states and nationwide.
- Provide targeted one-on-one technical support and assistance to SL-HIE leaders in different stages as they develop and implement their statewide plans and governance and technical infrastructures in coordination with ONC.
- Provide a health information exchange information service to enhance networking, shared learning and promising practices.
