The Consortium for State and Regional Interoperability (CSRI), a collection of five of the nation’s largest nonprofit health data networks, intends to partner with eHealth Exchange’s anticipated Qualified Health Information Network (QHIN) to participate in the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT’s (ONC’s) Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement (TEFCA).
The first QHINs are expected to be designated in February.
Founding CSRI health data networks pursuing the prospective eHealth Exchange QHIN include Contexture, CRISP, CyncHealth, Indiana Health Information Exchange, and Manifest MedEx.
“eHealth Exchange and CSRI’s founding health data networks have collaborated for many years,” said Morgan Honea, CSRI president and executive vice president of Denver-based Contexture, the umbrella organization of health data networks in Colorado and Arizona, in a statement. “This potential nonprofit collaboration allows CSRI to demonstrate the value of regional and state health information exchanges across the country, in the midst of other vendor-based exchanges.”
eHealth Exchange said that it ideally suited to be among the nation’s first QHINs. The network has 13 years of experience supporting large-scale health information exchange across a network of diverse participants, including 61 regional and state health information exchanges (HIEs) and five federal agencies. This experience includes supporting exchange across more than 30 different electronic medical record technologies.
“We are thrilled CSRI intends to partner with eHealth Exchange, which means CSRI’s member organizations will participate with TEFCA through our planned QHIN,” said Jay Nakashima, executive director of eHealth Exchange, in a statement. “We aim to provide a seamless experience for organizations such as CSRI to participate in this federally endorsed framework for patient data sharing.”
The Virginia Health Information (VHI), the Commonwealth’s nonprofit health data organization, also has announced that it intends to participate in eHealth Exchange’s anticipated QHIN through its statewide HIE ConnectVirginia.
The eHealth Exchange said it is closely following the work of the Recognized Coordinating Entity and ONC, and implementing anticipated information technology and policies to be in the best position possible to become a QHIN.
