Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/289185
64 Health Information Technology S ixteen regional health information ex- change organizations from throughout the Midwest and Rocky Mountains states banded together in February to address the chal- lenges of exchanging patient information across state and regional lines. The new partnership, called the Mid-States Con- sortium of Health Information Organizations, will advocate for HIE models, like query-based exchanges, that better allow patient information to be accessed outside of the patient's home state or region. The consortium will also focus on the unique HIE needs of rural providers in these states. "The Mid-States Consortium of HIOs will pro- vide a venue through which HIOs can negotiate together with vendors and payers for products or services and advocate at the regional and national level for HIO-related issues," said Jeff Messer, di- rector of outreach and development at the Colo- rado Regional Health Information Organization, in a news release. "The Mid-States Consortium will provide the opportunity for HIOs to share knowledge, education and networking resources and collaborate on funding opportunities where partnerships can be advantageous." Participating HIOs include: 1. Colorado Regional Health Information Orga- nization 2. Community Health Information Collaborative (Minnesota) 3. Coordinated Care Oklahoma 4. Health Information Network Of Arizona 5. HealthShare Montana 6. Idaho Health Data Exchange 7. Iowa Health Information Network 8. Kansas Health Information Network 9. Missouri Health Connection 10. MyHealth Access Network, Inc. (Oklahoma) 11. Nebraska Health Information Initiative 12. North Dakota Health Information Network 13. Quality Health Network (Colorado) 14. South Dakota Health Link at DOH 15. Southeast Texas Health System 16. SMRTNET (Oklahoma) n Regional HIOs Partner to Address Data Exchange Challenges By Helen Gregg Epic, Walgreens, unitedHealth, Kaiser Partner to Share Patient Data By Helen Gregg A major vendor-led interoperability effort, CommonWell Health Alliance, has one notable absence in its ranks — elec- tronic health record giant Epic. When the Alliance was formed, Epic refused to participate, denounc- ing the effort as a ploy to increase the vendors' market share as govern- ment-issued interoperability standards should render such an organi- zation redundant, according to an article in Forbes. Now, Epic has partnered with several leading healthcare organiza- tions to form Carequality, a spinoff from the federally funded health information exchange effort Healtheway. Along with Walgreens, Sure- scripts, UnitedHealth Group, Oakland, Calif.-based Kaiser Permanente and others, the new group seeks to accelerate the exchange of patient data not just between vendors but between hospitals, payers, physi- cians, retail clinics and other healthcare organizations. "We represent not just vendors or health care providers, or payers, but all stakeholders," Mariann Yeager, Healtheway's executive director, told Forbes. "This is a call for all stakeholders to participate." n 10 States With the Most HIMSS Stage 6, 7 Hospitals By Helen Gregg S ince 2005, HIMSS Analytics' EMR Adoption Model has tracked electronic medical record adoption in hospitals and health sys- tems throughout the country. To date, 681 hospitals have reached the penultimate stage 6 on the HIMSS Analytics Electronic Medical Record Adoption Model, and another 160 are at stage 7 and completely paperless. The following states have the highest combined number of stage 6 and stage 7 hospitals. 1. California (76 hospitals) 2. Ohio (53 hospitals) 3. Texas (52 hospitals) 4. Illinois (39 hospitals) 5. Virginia (39 hospitals) 6. Pennsylvania (37 hospitals) 7. Wisconsin (36 hospitals) 8. Missouri (35 hospitals) 9. Minnesota (34 hospitals) 10. New York (34 hospitals) n