Pennsylvania seeks to collaborate with Delaware for HIE development
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The Pennsylvania Health Information Exchange (PHIX), according to the report, “is the next step to establishing a 21st century health IT infrastructure for Pennsylvania” to strengthen its healthcare system through timely, secure and authorized exchange of patient health information among healthcare providers.
In close alignment with the state Medicaid health IT plan, the Office of Healthcare Reform’s strategy is to leverage the capacity already developed by integrated and/or large healthcare systems, regional/sub-regional health information organizations and community hospitals to connect healthcare providers to improve the quality and efficiency of healthcare in Pennsylvania.
The approach includes exploring an intergovernmental agreement with Delaware for the use of the Delaware Health Information Network (DHIN) as a platform. Partnering with DHIN will "substantially accelerate start-up time" for PHIX and support clinicians in maximizing their incentive funds, the report stated.
“The DHIN platform is scalable to Pennsylvania’s needs and capable of handling the policies and procedures specific to Pennsylvania’s legal requirements independent of Delaware’s requirements,” the authors wrote.
According to the Office of Healthcare Reform, DHIN has already worked through many of the implementation issues and developed many of the shared services that will be needed during implementation of PHIX, including:
- Compliance with the HIPAA’s privacy and security rules;
- Building a master patient index and creating matching algorithms for locating patients and their records;
- Usage monitoring protocols to ensure patient privacy and data security;
- Creation of a disaster recovery program;
- Mapping workflow and business processes; and
- Creating test plans and processes.
The report is available for comment by interested parties until Dec. 20. A public meeting and information session is planned for Dec. 16 in Harrisburg, Pa.