UHIN

Tag: interoperability

ONC Releases Data on Information Blocking Claims

by UHIN

77% of claims submitted identified providers as potential actor; only two claims identified HIEs

New ONC data shows almost 300 claims of healthcare organizations allegedly blocking access to patient data. Since information blocking regulations went into effect last April, the ONC has received 274 possible claims of information blocking. 

Of those claims, 176 were submitted by patients. The majority of claims submitted (211) identified a “health care provider” as the potential actor, with 42 claims naming health information technology developers, and only two claims identifying health information exchanges. 

Claim Counts by Types of Claimant

Claim Counts by Potential Actor

Source: Information Blocking Claims: By the Numbers – https://www.healthit.gov/data/quickstats/information-blocking-claims-numbers

“…the circumstances described in the claims may offer insight into potential impediments to EHI access, exchange, or use,” wrote ONC executives Rachel Nelson and Cassie Weaver in a release article. “Though we cannot tell through simple triage whether a particular claim represents information blocking as defined in the regulations, some of the concerns described in the claims we have received appear on their face consistent with examples of practices likely to interfere with access, exchange, or use of EHI that we described in ONC’s Cures Act proposed and final rules.”

Claims of potential data blocking were received through the Report Information Blocking Portal and the ONC plans to release updated data each month on a dedicated Information Blocking web page.

In accordance with the 21st Century Cures Act, the ONC seeks to stop certain information blocking practices. New rules were issued in 2020 regarding information blocking regulations with compliance dates going into effect April 5, 2021.

UHIN has long been a proponent of interoperability across the healthcare industry. Our vision is to create a more connected healthcare system that drives innovation, collaboration, and inclusiveness.

Supplementing Patient Data for Maliheh Free Clinic

by UHIN

The CHIE is an important source of data for Maliheh Free Clinic’s vulnerable patients.

The Maliheh Free Clinic’s patient population is a particularly vulnerable one.

Since Maliheh serves a demographic of patients that sit at up to 200% of the national poverty line, they don’t always have steady access to patient data or even contact information. Their patient population often has limited access to technology, and the clinic itself relies on access to Utah’s two major hospital systems’ EHRs. While this access covers some of their patients, Maliheh staff runs into challenges finding critical information on previous treatment: prescription information, lab results, and other data from other providers and facilities.

With only these tools, Maliheh’s process looks like this:

A new patient with medical data in another system must fill out a Medical Records Request form for each current or past provider. The form is mailed or faxed to each provider, and the patient is evaluated and treated to the best of the clinicians’ ability without previous medical history. 

After that, well, the process is a little less clear-cut. Several possible barriers exist at this stage: the form needs to first reach the target provider, and they must actually send back the requested medical information. Sometimes, this requires Maliheh to send the request multiple times to try to get what they need. Once they have the information, staff must then track the patient down so they can provide care- and again, patients may not have steady contact information or addresses, and may have high difficulty in finding time to come back for another appointment. Ideally, Maliheh will provide as much care as possible to the patient on the first visit, but in cases such as these, it’s simply not possible.

Implementing The CHIE to tackle data gaps

In 2018, Maliheh heard about UHIN via an informaticist from one of the Utah health systems. With their small staff (only 12 contracted FTEs), it was going to be difficult to work on integrating a new program into their workflow, but UHIN’s Enrollment Team actively worked with clinic staff to make sure they could get some kind of access to the CHIE, UHIN’s Health Information Exchange tool. The clinic had no extra time to train up any tool experts on their own staff, but UHIN’s team was there for that as well, helping to resolve any usage or technical questions that arose. 

Maliheh found that they suddenly had access to patient data and patient matching services for dozens of patients that would have been previously underserved. 

As a result of implementing the CHIE as a supplemental data source, Maliheh found that they suddenly had access to patient data and patient matching services for dozens of patients that would have been previously underserved. When a patient’s missing data was in the CHIE, all of the time that their staff spend searching for documentation and trying to send communications could simply be spent providing care to their vulnerable populations. The CHIE was able to help Maliheh avoid long waits for paperwork, lost appointments, and missed care opportunities.

“It’s invaluable to us, it’s like Christmas when we find something in the CHIE. It’s really exciting.”

The CHIE was a solution for the information gaps in Maliheh’s EHR data and their patients’ knowledge of their own care history. With its help, Maliheh is able to provide care to hundreds more patients every year. “It’s invaluable to us,” said Nicole Mohr, Care Coordinator at the Maliheh Free Clinic. “It’s like Christmas when we find something in the CHIE. It’s really exciting.”

Clinical Health Information Exchange
To learn more about how CHIE data can help your organization, visit our CHIE page at https://uhin.org/solutions/providers/chie-providers/

Does your organization need access to CHIE data and solutions? Contact us here

To learn more about Maliheh Free Clinic and their mission, visit https://malihehfreeclinic.org

You can also download the Success Story One-Pager here: https://uhin.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Maliheh-Single-page-Impact-Stories.pdf

We’ve Got You Covered in the Mountain West: New Link Between QHN and UHIN!

by UHIN

New Connections and Better Coverage

UHIN and Western Colorado’s Quality Health Network (QHN) are pleased to announce a more tightly linked connection between our health information exchanges which will improve patient outcomes, improve efficiencies, and help reduce costs in a shared coverage area throughout many parts of Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming that includes more than a 100 hospitals and thousands of providers. The new real-time delivery of data between the two health information exchanges allows for clinical event data to be automatically delivered to the electronic health record (EHR) systems of providers who have a treating relationship with the patient and have subscribed to the services (Not subscribed? Contact our CHIE Team to get started!). The information will also be made available via query for authorized providers who may have a treating relationship with the patient in the future.  

The ongoing patient data exchange between UHIN and QHN is initially triggered when a patient visits any of the Provider Participants of either QHN or UHIN. The health data delivered includes but is not limited to admission and discharge information, diagnostic laboratory and radiology results as well as care episode documentation from Emergency Room, Surgeries, as well as other Procedural Reports.   

While both QHN and UHIN have been exchanging health data via query/response methods exchange since 2016, the stakeholders of both organizations have long hoped for the automated delivery of clinical data directly into providers’ health record systems. The new exchange modalities make this a reality and have been in production since May of 2021.  The results of the exchange is already proving positive for both patients and providers. 

Let’s Show You How It Works

Meet Travis. Travis lives in Grand Junction, CO. He has high blood pressure, coronary artery disease, is a bit overweight and a diabetic. He decided to exercise more and loves to bike, but he took a hard fall mountain biking in eastern Utah and was sent to Moab, UT for medical care. Before this data exchange enhancement, Travis’s Grand Junction doctors may not have known that Travis got hurt, much less where or how he might have been treated or what follow up care might be required to allow for Travis’s return to mountain biking.  With this new exchange modality in place, Travis’ Moab doctor can query UHIN for information about Travis’ pre-existing conditions (including information from his Grand Junction primary care, cardiology, and endocrinology providers) and make better decisions about Travis’ immediate care needs.  

Travis’ Grand Junction doctors are alerted that Travis’ had an accident and details of the care he received in Moab because that information is delivered automatically into the EHR’s of the Grand Junction doctors. Any follow up care Travis receives from the Grand Junction doctors is copied to the Moab doctor’s EHR for as long as the Moab doctor subscribes to Travis’ information. So both sets of physicians can collaborate on the care of Travis and get him back safely riding as soon as possible. 

This is next-level patient centric care collaboration, is automatically triggered by patient care events, with data delivered directly into the EHR’s of treating providers. It means that Travis’s health information automatically follows him wherever he receives care for as long as his providers are subscribed to his information through either through QHN or UHIN. Even without subscription, Travis’ data is still available to treating providers via query/response data exchange between the two health information networks. 

The two organizations have a long history of collaboration and this is just one of the many ways we continue to connect people for better health across Utah and the mountain West. We are Better Together.

Ready to get set up with the CHIE? Contact our team today to Get Started.

Sources:

UHIN Partners on New Joint Venture, BeyondHIE

by UHIN

UHIN will Join Three other Health Care Organizations Poised to Transform Health Care

BeyondHIE.org
Press Release

BOISE, Idaho — Four health care organizations are partnering to create a new company focused on helping health information exchanges (HIEs) and their communities, payers and providers improve health outcomes. The newly formed partnership, known as BeyondHIE, will offer a comprehensive suite of services, technology and project management to support value-based care.  

BeyondHIE, a nonprofit organization, will support health care organizations by bringing together health data partners and enabling that data to be scaled and enhanced. The four companies joining together are Comagine Health, Idaho Health Data Exchange (IHDE), Orion Health and the Utah Health Information Network (UHIN). These industry leaders offer deep expertise in the areas of data quality, utilization, support and delivery. Together, they will provide services that support health care organizations on their journey to improve health care quality, while also assisting with funding of provider connectivity.

“Delivering improved outcomes using health information enables payers and providers to meet the health care needs of the community they serve,” said Brian Chin, chief executive officer at UHIN. “This joint venture can make vital health care data a reality for more communities.”

“We are excited to partner with these key industry leaders striving to improve health outcomes throughout the U.S.,”said Ian McCrae, founder and chief executive officer of Orion Health. “This joint venture will support improvements in population health by making data accessible when and where it can make a difference.”

“This partnership allows us to offer analytic expertise in support of improvement and decision making,” Marc Bennett, Comagine Health’s president and chief executive officer, said. “The potential impact to improve health and create a better health care system is exciting.”

“This partnership supports health systems by bringing together health data partners allowing data to be scaled and enhanced across broad geographies,” Hans Kastensmith, IHDE’s executive director, said.

For more information about BeyondHIE visit: beyondhie.org.

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About BeyondHIE 

BeyondHIE delivers improved outcomes using enhanced secure health care information, enabling payers and providers to meet their patients’ health care needs with the full range of support ensuring outperformance on value-based reporting requirements. BeyondHIE delivers population level aggregated data at the right place and time. BeyondHIE makes consumer health information available when and where you need it; safe, informative, in your clinician’s hands. For more information, please visit beyondhie.org.

About Comagine Health

Comagine Health, formerly Qualis Health and HealthInsight, works collaboratively with patients, providers, payers and other stakeholders to reimagine, redesign and implement sustainable improvements in the health care system. As a trusted, neutral party, we work in our communities to address key, complex health and health care delivery problems. In all our engagements and initiatives, we draw upon our expertise in quality improvement, care management, health information technology, analytics and research. We invite our partners and communities to work with us to improvehealth and redesign the health care delivery system. For more information, please visit comagine.org.

About Idaho Health Data Exchange

Idaho Health Data Exchange (IHDE), a non-profit 501(c)(3) company, is Idaho’s statewide Health Information Exchange, dedicated to meeting the needs of healthcare providers and ensuring that Idaho’s citizens receive the most effective health services possible. To achieve these goals, IHDE is working with a wide-array of stakeholders and actively building a best in breed technology infrastructure to provide access to reliable data and information, combining traditional healthcare data with other data sources to help address the medical, behavioral, and social needs that influence the well-being of Idahoans. For more information, visit https://idahohde.org/.

About UHIN

UHIN is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to creating a more connected healthcare system. At our core, we enable organizations to interoperate with disparate health systems easily and securely, EHRs, PMs and other IT systems. By driving the adoption of innovative technologies and promoting a community of collaboration and inclusiveness, we are bringing together healthcare providers, hospitals, health plans, ACOs, government organizations and more to share vital information critical to their success. Learn more at www.uhin.org.

About Orion Health 

Orion Health is a global, award-winning provider of health information technology, advancing population health and precision medicine solutions for the delivery of care across the entire health ecosystem. Orion Health provides a state-of the art multi-tenanted HIE platform, which has been subscribed to by 4 statewide Health Information Organizations, to support a suite of solutions to enable clinicians to extract meaningful insights and make more accurate decisions about patient care, delivering patient-centered healthcare and quality health outcomes that help patients live a healthier life. Our technology is used by hundreds of thousands of clinicians across the globe to manage the health care of more than 100 million patients. We specialize in open technology systems that seamlessly integrate all forms of health and personal data across the entire health community and present that data back to users in real time to provide optimum patient care. We believe that software needs to do more than serve up data; it needs to provide insights in real time to the people who need it, when they need it. For more information, please