OHIO INVOLVED IN NATIONAL STANDARDS AND INTEROPERABILITY

S&I FRAMEWORK TO BE FINALIZED IN OCTOBER

Just as language barriers can cause a breakdown in communication between people, computers need a standard way to talk to each other to ensure that can correctly understand one another’s messages. In the healthcare arena, many standard “languages” have been in place for years. But in the brave new world of health information exchange, these standards aren’t quite enough to give a complete picture of a patient’s health.

That’s where the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Standards & Interoperability (S&I) Framework team steps in. Their job is to ensure that all computer systems responsible for sharing healthcare data speak the same language, and that the language they use is clear, concise and understandable to other computer systems.

Michael Sawczyn, The Partnership’s enterprise architect and security/privacy officer, has been working as a committed member with S&I since October 2011 in the Data Segmentation for Privacy workgroup.

It’s exciting work,” Sawczyn says, “and one of the most difficult computer programming problems I’ve had to deal with in a long time. But the end result will be safe and secure healthcare information, and to me that makes it worth the effort.”   

The S&I Framework invites volunteer participation from outside organizations such as the vendor community, healthcare providers, technology implementers and anyone else with an interest in this field to participate in the development of these computer standards, and The Partnership has thrown its hat into the ring to help ensure that the decisions made in this group will have a positive impact on our efforts for Ohio.

To help keep its volunteers focused, S&I has created workgroups that focus on different parts of the system interoperability landscape, with a goal that each workgroup’s efforts can last no longer than 12 months. Sawczyn’s privacy workgroup’s task is to develop the structure for ensuring that patient data remains confidential unless proper patient consent has been entered into the system. Via webinar, the workgroup has been meeting twice a week since November 2011.

“We picked two scenarios that we considered to be the toughest to handle,” says Sawczyn. “CFR 42 Part 2 deals with strict consent format and content for certain medical treatments, such as drug abuse and mental illness, and Title 38, which speaks to an insurance carrier’s inability to access their insured’s data unless they paid for that specific procedure. Both have a lot of nuances that have to be addressed by EMR and HIE systems, and current computing standards don’t handle them well.”

The process started in November with group discussions on which scenario(s) to address with the final selection in January, Sawczyn says. Work then turned to a review of pre-existing standards in this area to narrow the group’s focus on gaps that must be filled. Three different sub-workgroups pulled from the overall workgroup membership are reviewing the gaps, and Sawczyn is participating in two of these. 

More than 6,000 Physicians Signed Up

Columbus - In Ohio, the future is now. The Ohio Health Information Partnership (The Partnership) is creating a statewide environment for improved patient safety and coordination of care, having signed up more than 6,000 primary care physicians to use electronic health records, the highest number of any Regional Extension Center in the nation.

“The fact that so many physicians have signed up shows the commitment that Ohio physicians have in utilizing new technologies to improve patient care and outcomes,” said Brent Mulgrew, an executive board member of The Partnership and executive director of the Ohio State Medical Association (OSMA).

The Partnership also committed to the Office of the National Coordinator of Health Information Technology (HIT) that it will support outreach so that 10,000 physicians can meet Medicare and Medicaid federal meaningful use requirements in 2012. 

Greenway EHR interfaces with CliniSync to send results

Columbus, Ohio - For the first time in Ohio, a hospital is “live” on the statewide health information exchange (HIE) – CliniSync.

Clinical patient data is moving from St. Rita’s Medical Center in Lima to Health Partners of Western Ohio, a federally qualified health center, right into the physicians’ electronic health records (EHR) system.

"Today is a milestone, a very significant milestone, on a journey that started two years ago with a few hospitals, a couple of labs and a clinic. They wanted to improve the health of the community by simplifying health information flow,” said Dr. Herbert Schumm, regional vice president of medical affairs at St. Rita’s and the president of the West Central Ohio Health Information Exchange (WCOHIE). “This exciting journey with the Ohio Health Information Partnership will continue to achieve these milestones for years to come.”

Janis Sunderhaus, CEO of Health Partners of Western Ohio and a board member of WCOHIE for the past two years, said the connection to CliniSync marks the beginning of improved patient care for the entire community and region.

“A provider’s ability to have up-to-date health information about their patient is directly related to their ability to make the best care decisions.  This is something anyone who has a chronic disease with several specialists or a person who has gotten sick on vacation knows very well,” Sunderhaus said.  “Everyone’s health is improved when providers communicate more, whether it is across town or across the country.  We are very happy to participate in this ground breaking effort to connect health care providers.”

Columbus – Imagine travelling on vacation, getting injured skiing, and then having your family doctor be able to access the x-rays and care you're receiving by a physician in another state.

Ohio is the first state in the nation to successfully send and receive health information across state lines, using Direct secure messaging, through its statewide health information exchange, CliniSync.

The Ohio Health Information Partnership announced today that the first production instance of interstate Direct messaging of electronic health records took place December 1 between physicians' offices in Lima, Ohio, and Biloxi, Mississippi. CliniSync connected with the Mississippi Health Information Network (MS-HIN). A "production" instance means the exchange was live, and physician office staff used the tool to exchange real messages.