What are National Connections? Will they resolve the lack of data being shared?
In the healthcare arena there is a need for interoperability and data exchange to help healthcare organizations and providers provide better care. There is saying the more data the better in healthcare. Currently there are multiple ways to shared data between different systems within healthcare organizations. One way that has gain traction amongst the healthcare industry is connecting and exchanging data via a national connection like eHealth Exchange formerly known as the Nationwide Health Information Network.
What is Nationwide Health Information Network you may ask? Nationwide Health Information Network in short NwHIN is a set of standards, services and policies that provides a mechanism for secure health data exchange over the public internet. NwHIN was created to a be a foundation of how different healthcare systems would exchange data nationally without using infrastructure and a network of computers. The key word is nationally because of course patients move around from city to city and state to state. For some history on this standard it was enacted in February 2009, the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act requires the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology to establish a governance mechanism for the nationwide health information network (section 3001(c)(8) of the Public Health Service Act (PHSA)).
You may be thinking how is this accomplished, how can national connections become available to be connected if there is no infrastructure implemented by NwHIN or required interoperability project to get resources together to connect to each other. eHealth Exchange formerly known as the NwHIN over the years has become more adopted and widely used by organizations in every state, participating organizations mutually agree to support the common set of standards and specifications that enable the establishment of a secure, trusted and interoperable connection among all participating Exchange organizations. Healthcare organizations go through an official onboarding process and test that their technology meets the NwHIN set of standards, services and policies. After this is completed, they are able to connect with other organizations that have officially onboarded with eHealth Exchange as well. The eHealth Exchange organization make sure from a governance standpoint that all participants are following the appropriate standards and policies agreed upon. eHealth Exchange has help tremendously with the lack of data being shared between Healthcare Organizations, the policies and standards have allowed more organizations to trust he data being exchange and free up resources to work on other missions critical projects.
We as DevScripts Solutions have seen the benefits of these national connections, the benefits are as follow.
Less time to complete interoperability project, we seen this done in a few hours
More healthcare organizations available for data exchange, in the past this required mutual patient engagement and what we call an interface project to be done
Use of CCD standard, provides one standard language to exchange data between all participants
Governance, this provides all participants to be in agreement on the mechanisms and technology to continue exchange data without a break in technology standards
Let DevScripts Solutions help with your Healthcare IT consulting needs with our focus on data sharing and interoperability. We have a vast knowledge base on NwHIN and how to help you integrate with others using this standard.
DevScripts Solutions is an IT Consultant Firm Specializing in Interoperability within the Healthcare Arena.
We are a small team solving big interoperability challenges on a daily basis. With our vast knowledge of interoperability we can integrate ourselves as part of your organization just like we are part of your full-time team.
We develop a variety of custom interfaces for healthcare organizations such as Healthcare Vendors, HIEs, Health Systems, Hospitals, Medical Practices, Payors and ACOs using Mirth Connect.
We work with businesses in California, Georgia, New York, Florida, Texas and throughout the wider United States.
For more information on our services or to arrange a consultation call please contact us today.
T: 678-861-4682 E: info@devscriptssolutions.com
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