Kansas HIE will dissolve
 |
Finances are an issue for the public-private partnership. With its grant from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT set to run out in 2013, the organization needed about $400,000 to cover annual operating costs.
A state-run HIE would cost about $54,000; KDHE anticipates in its transition plan combining the two entities that the move to KDHE will create first-year savings of $232,900 and second-year savings of $390,600.
In the report, KDHE also said that the transition is a logical progression since KHIE had evolved into a "policy-defining entity," and that most of the needed policies had been completed or were nearing completion.
The Kansas Legislature will need to approve the transition, which is expected, according to KHI.
The dissolution does not reflect on data-sharing capabilities. In fact, Wesley Medical Center and Via Christi Health, Kansas' two largest health systems, recently demonstrated their interoperability by sharing data via Wichita HIE, an affiliate of the Kansas Health Information Network, a private HIE created by the Kansas Medical Society and the Kansas Hospital Association.
Beth Walsh,
Editor
Editor Beth earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism and master’s in health communication. She has worked in hospital, academic and publishing settings over the past 20 years. Beth joined TriMed in 2005, as editor of CMIO and Clinical Innovation + Technology. When not covering all things related to health IT, she spends time with her husband and three children.