HIEs, Others Form Health Data Joint Venture
Four healthcare organizations have announced their intent 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, according to officials.
The partnering organizations include healthcare consulting and services firm Comagine Health—formerly Qualis Health and HealthInsight—Idaho Health Data Exchange (IHDE), the Utah Health Information Network (UHIN), and Orion Health, a healthcare technology company that provides a multi-tenanted HIE platform.
The new organization, BeyondHIE, will be a nonprofit organization, according to officials, and “will support healthcare organizations by bringing together health data partners and enabling that data to be scaled and enhanced.” The industry leaders that are forming the new entity, they add, “offer deep expertise in the areas of data quality, utilization, support and delivery. Together, they will provide services that support healthcare organizations on their journey to improve healthcare quality, while also assisting with funding of provider connectivity.”
UHIN’s HIE covers 95 percent of the hospitals and 90 percent of the large clinics in Utah. UHIN and IDHE have previously partnered; back in 2018, the two organizations collaborated on an initiative to exchange admission, discharge and transfer (ADT) notifications for patients who live in one of the states but have a medical encounter in the other state.
As of now, it’s a bit unclear what specific services BeyondHIE will offer its members, but officials said it will deliver “population level aggregated data at the right place and time,” and “make consumer health information available when and where you need it; safe, informative, in your clinician’s hands.”
Brian Chin, CEO at UHIN, stated, “Delivering improved outcomes using health information enables payers and providers to meet the healthcare needs of the community they serve. This joint venture can make vital health care data a reality for more communities.”
Hans Kastensmith, IHDE’s executive director, added, “This partnership supports health systems by bringing together health data partners allowing data to be scaled and enhanced across broad geographies.”
