N.Y. RHIOs, HIEs connect to share patient info

Three New York regional health information organizations (RHIOs) and three health information exchange (HIE) vendors will participate in the Statewide Health Information Network of New York (SHIN-NY), the New York eHealth Collaborative (NYeC), along with the New York State Department of Health, announced.

The RHIOs (Brooklyn Health Information Exchange, e-Health Network of Long Island and Taconic Health Information Network and Community [THINC]) and HIE vendors (HealthUnity, IBM and InterSystems) have each formally joined forces with NYeC to facilitate HIE across New York's downstate region—comprised of New York City's five boroughs, Long Island and the Hudson Valley with a combined population of 13 million.

Brooklyn Health Information Exchange, e-Health Network of Long Island and THINC connected their databases and infrastructure according to NYeC. HealthUnity, IBM and InterSystems also entered into strategic contracts with NYeC to leverage tools toward the further development of the SHIN-NY and have agreed to standardize software to permit interoperability along with adherence to New York Statewide Policy Guidance.

The initial capability of the SHIN-NY will be that of Patient Record Look Up, a function similar to a search engine, allowing providers to search across databases within the SHIN-NY network to find health records relevant to their patient.

The next function the SHIN-NY will deploy is Direct Exchange where providers can query each other while collaborating on patient care, NYeC added. 

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