Kansas HIE joins national eHealth Exchange

The Kansas Health Information Network is linking up to the national health information network, eHealth Exchange—a non-profit, public-private initiative created by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT.

The exchange connects more than 1,000 hospitals, 6,000 medical groups and 60 million patients, and exchanges millions of transactions each year. KHIN joins the already 70 participants exchanging health information on the network.

As part of the eHealth Exchange KHIN, a Kansas not-for-profit organization, brings with it more than 800 member organizations representing hospitals, clinics, federally qualified health centers, community mental health centers, substance abuse treatment centers and others. The exchange allows Kansas patients traveling out of state to access their medical records in the event of an emergency or routine care.

“One of our key reasons for joining eHealth Exchange was to share medical records with the Veterans Administration and the Department of Defense. Kansas is the home of three large military bases and over 200,000 veterans. KHIN’s connection to the VA and DOD through the eHealth Exchange will help to ensure that Kansas health care providers have important health care information available when Kansas military personnel or veterans need care,” said Laura McCrary executive director of KHIN, in a statement.