Medicaid first payor to join Wash. HIE

The Washington State Medicaid program is the first healthcare payor to sign up for a statewide health information exchange (HIE), the state's Healthcare Authority announced.

The system—the OneHealthPort Health Information Exchange—was funded primarily through a cooperative agreement between the Olympia, Wash.-based Healthcare Authority and the National Coordinator for Health IT and supported by private contributions from Seattle-based IT management company OneHealthPort and the Washington Healthcare Forum.

The OneHealthPort HIE will provide the technology infrastructure for healthcare industry organizations and their trading partners to exchange electronic health information, Healthcare Authority added.

The Healthcare Authority coordinates statewide health IT activities across Washington, working with both the public and private sectors.

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