PA Health Information Exchange Brings Latest Member HIOs

Pennsylvania’s state health information exchange (HIE) has brought a member health information organization (HIO), Mount Nittany Exchange (MNX), in accordance to a public statement.

MNX joins various other health information agencies in constituting Pennsylvania’s HIE, the Pennsylvania Patient & Provider Network (P3N). The HIO joins 3 others, involving HealthShare Exchange of Southeastern Pennsylvania, ClinicalConnect HIE, and Keystone Health Information Exchange.

In accordance to P3N executives, MNX’s joining of the HIE will assist to serve better care coordination, clinical results, and patient safety. By assisting to expand the HIE, more contributors across the state will be capable to seamlessly exchange health data with other contributors.

“By signing the P3N agreement, Mount Nittany Exchange has taken the serious 1^st step toward complete participation in the statewide health information exchange,” claims Authority Executive Director Alix Goss. “Benefits to sufferers will be acquired as more contributors connect to P3N-partipating HIOs, leading to betterments in care coordination, patient safety, and healthcare quality.”

Now that MNX has signed onto P3N, it will sustain onto a technical on boarding procedure. The HIO will undergo complete interoperability testing to make sure the smooth exchange of health data, and will work to acquire final certification from the Pennsylvania eHealth Partnership Authority, the body which governs P3N.

MNX’s joining of P3N is momentous because it forces the HIE further toward its target of having 5 HIOs contributing to health data exchange. In accordance to the Authority’s executives, this addition invests to an expansion of better health services all across the Pennsylvania.

“This is a huge milestone on the road to protect statewide connectivity in Pennsylvania,” stated Authority Chairman David F. Simon. “With 5 HIOs hoped to be part of the P3N by the end of this year, this will bring to fruition the real promise of utilizing electronic health information exchange to make better patients’ health through better coordination of care, real-time access to clinical outcomes, and reduced redundancy of medical tests.”

“The Authority’s P3N is coming together at a serious period for Pennsylvania’s citizens,” Simon sustained. “Through dedicated, committed staff work encouraged by a firm strategic foundation developed by the Authority Board over the last year, the Authority is ideally positioned to move connected healthcare to the next level for all Pennsylvanians.”

Following establishment in the year 2012, the Pennsylvania eHealth Partnership Authority made P3N. By April of previous year, P3N was already raking in important grant funding.

At HIMSS 2015, the HIE declared an $11.8 million grant to help it expand health data exchange across the state. These funds were offered through the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

The grant funding was granted to HIEs across the state looking to link to a hospital to promote better interoperability.

Statewide HIEs are increasing in popularity across the nation. In Texas, a merger between HIO HASA and the North Texas Accountable Healthcare Partnership (NTAHP) extended health data exchange across 11 counties, 137 hospitals, and millions of sufferers, bringing interoperability to the north and western regions of Texas.

HIE has also made moves to interstate exchange. In Georgia and Alabama, HIEs are partnering to deliver interoperability for sufferers who may live on the border of the 2 states and visit hospitals in either region.