ONC offers rural HIE toolkit
The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology's (ONC) National Rural Health Resource Center has released a new rural health information exchange (HIE) toolkit.
ONC officials say they hope the set of "practical" resources will be distributed widely to rural health stakeholders, including State Offices of Rural Health and Flex Programs, rural hospitals and clinics, critical access hospitals, rural health networks and other invested parties.
The toolkit includes:
Forming or Joining a Health Information Exchange–First Considerations, a guide covering the first steps in forming or joining an HIE. The document also includes a readiness self-assessment tool designed around governance, sustainability, technology, legal and policy, provider adoption, evaluation and consumer engagement domains.
HIE Return on Investment (ROI) Calculator. This spreadsheet calculates potential savings and costs of implementing an EHR and an HIE. Sources are listed along with each calculation.
HIE Direct Guide. This guide to Direct connectivity standards is designed to assist healthcare providers in understanding and implementing HIE using Direct protocols. The guide includes descriptions of technologies used, a glossary of terms and recommendations on implementing Direct.
HIE Policy Matrix, which includes "policy models" adapted from the Connecting for Health Common Framework. Specifically, the policy suggestions are from section P2: Model Privacy Policies and Procedures for HIE. This framework provides several useful tools for HIE; P2 contains much of the necessary policy and procedure language needed for an HIE.
Privacy and Security Overview and Resource List. The privacy and security requirements for organizations participating in an HIE are covered in this guide. A list of HIPAA-related resources is also included for staying current on regulatory changes. The HIE Toolkit was developed through the Rural Health IT Network Development Program, which is funded by the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy through a contract to the National Rural Health Resource Center.