HIEs form national consortium

More than 20 health information exchanges (HIEs) have banded together to form a national consortium called the Strategic Health Information Exchange Collaborative (SHIEC).

The organization seeks to cultivate the exchange of ideas and business improvements, as well as public education and advocacy, among its members. An executive director will be named to lead the consortium in 2015.

SHIEC follows eight years of collaboration among several U.S. HIEs. Organizations that will participate in the consortium include: Quality Health Network; HealtheLINK; Healthbridge; Utah Health Information Network; Arizona Health-e Connection; NYU Longone Medical Center; and the Nebraska Health Information Initiative.

“We believe that there are valuable services that a national consortium can provide to member HIEs such as achieving economies of scale, promoting business models for the sustainability of HIEs, educating and increasing awareness of HIEs among public and private entities, providing opportunities for the establishment of joint ventures and collaborating to inform legislators and policy makers of the benefits to the communities served by our members,” said Dick Thompson, executive director of Quality Health Network, in a statement. “In addition, we would like a trade organization that speaks for HIEs exclusively and is focused solely on helping HIEs fulfill their community mission."