HIEs form national association

The Strategic Health Information Exchange Collaborative (SHIEC), a not-for-profit national trade association of collaborative regional, state and community-based health information exchanges (HIEs), has launched a website and named an executive director.

The organization has 19 founding member organizations. Robert Steffel, former CEO of the HealthBridge of Cincinnati, has been named the executive director and Dick Thompson, executive director of Quality Health Network in Grand Junction, Colo., is the board chair of SHIEC.

The HIEs announced in December 2014 that they were working on developing the organization to enable the industry to speak with one voice on policy issues impacting information exchange as well as promote the business model, take advantage of economies of scale and form joint ventures, create education and awareness programs, and support sustainability.

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.

Around the web

The tirzepatide shortage that first began in 2022 has been resolved. Drug companies distributing compounded versions of the popular drug now have two to three more months to distribute their remaining supply.

The 24 members of the House Task Force on AI—12 reps from each party—have posted a 253-page report detailing their bipartisan vision for encouraging innovation while minimizing risks. 

Merck sent Hansoh Pharma, a Chinese biopharmaceutical company, an upfront payment of $112 million to license a new investigational GLP-1 receptor agonist. There could be many more payments to come if certain milestones are met.