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Louisiana Health Information Exchange Moving Forward
by Cindy Munn
PUBLISHED: November/December 2011
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The Louisiana Health Care Quality Forum is on course to meet the 2014
deadline to reach widespread meaningful use of health information technology.
At the end of this year the Quality Forum will complete Phase One
of three phases for the Louisiana Health Information Exchange (LaHIE).
LaHIE will give providers access to health
records and connect existing sources of
patient data within the state. This network
will increase connectivity and enable
patient-centered information flow to improve quality
and effectiveness of care. Among LaHIE benefits to
health care consumers: better coordination of care and
patient management; timely access to patient health
records; enhanced patient/physician communication;
improved patient safety; increased records security;
increased consumer engagement; reduced health care
costs; the ability to more adequately measure and improve
public health benchmarks.
The LaHIE design will ensure that health care
providers can use electronic health records (EHRs) and
other health information technologies to meet federal
criteria for incentive programs through Medicare and
Medicaid. Initially, LaHIE included four key components:
a master patient index; a record locator service;
a provider directory; and an enterprise service bus to
facilitate secure messaging in a standard data format.
The initial work addressed development of short-term
use cases involving secure point-to-point messaging to
help providers achieve meaningful use quickly and the
creation of an Emergency Department Visit Registry.
“Phase One is implementing point-to-point secure
messaging. LaHIE will help providers make meaningful
use of health information exchange via clinical summary
exchange, electronic prescribing, electronic lab
results delivery, and connectivity with the Office
of Public Health for health reporting,”
explains Jenny Smith, LaHIE Program
Manager. “In Louisiana, the Acadiana
region was identified as a pilot with implemented
EHRs and readiness to exchange
with other entities. By the year’s
end, the first phase of LaHIE services will
be in place, including clinical summary exchange,
notifications, referrals and immunization
submission.”
Following a comprehensive due diligence process, the
Quality Forum selected Orion Health as its primary
technology partner. Orion Health is a national leader
in state and federally funded HIEs. Their services are
used by more than 400 health care organizations and
200,000 clinicians who serve a population of over 60
million patients. In the United States, more than 700
provider facilities use Orion Health solutions and include
Kaiser Permanente, UCLA Medical Center, and
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Brenda Ikerd, the Quality Forum’s Director of Health
Information Technology, says the selection of Orion
Health is the result of collaborative efforts of many individuals,
including providers, payers, employers, and
consumers across the state. She notes that in addition
to Maine and Alaska, there are other numerous regional
and provider exchanges that utilize Orion Health services.
“This experienced technology partner enhances the
Forum’s breadth and depth of LaHIE services that will
benefit the residents of Louisiana.”
Founded in 1993, Orion Health employs clinical consultants,
including physicians, nurses, and other health
care professionals, “who work with the development
teams as part of our product management and product
development processes. Thus, we design our software
with the end user in mind – the clinician – so the solutions
work with existing workflows and achieve high
levels of adoption and utilization,” says Paul Viskovich,
president of Orion Health North America.
“Overall, at a high level, the general goals of state and
regional HIEs tend to be to improve population health
and health care access for residents. But we’ve found that
typically the specific needs and drivers for HIEs in each
state can vary. For example, one of our HIE customers has
specifically designed its HIE to address Type 2 diabetes,
using Orion Health’s toolset for that. Orion Health will
work with LaHIE in meeting the specific HIE needs of the
various communities in Louisiana,” continues Viskovich.
Phase Two of LaHIE will cover January 2012 to June
2012. It will include features like HIE to HIE transaction
exchange; single sign on; direct secure messaging; additional
data flowing through HIE (medications, procedures,
claims); and facilitation of additional functionality
with Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals
services (i.e., public health, eligibility registries).
Currently, Phase Three for LaHIE is scheduled for
July 2012 to December 2012. Features are designed to
include case management/analytics; quality reporting
capabilities; interstate exchange capabilities; and patient
access to LaHIE.
Among the key benefits to providers who enroll
in LaHIE, Smith notes that costs are shared by all
who use or benefit from LaHIE; a tiered hospital pricing
model based on net patient revenue; and inclusion
of affiliated physicians and their support staff
in the hospital license. In addition, she shares that
providers who sign a five-year contract will have a
capped annual license fee. And providers who are
early adopters will have the first year licensure waived.
For more information about LaHIE services, call
toll-free, 877.676.9298 or 225.334.9299.
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