The Western Colorado communities of Aspen and Montrose have been added to the Quality Health Network health information exchange (HIE), according to HIE company Axolotl. The expansion will allow more than 20 hospitals and attendant physicians in the 40,000 square miles of Western Colorado to share clinical information, according to the San Jose, Calif.-based company.

Change is everywhere. Opportunity is here. The theme of this months HIMSS annual meeting has us shaking our heads and saying to ourselves I sure hope sowe hope opportunity is here, its time! For sure, opportunity awaits in the four days of preconference and educational sessions, specialty activities, networking events and career development opportunities that HIMSS has put together this year for the annual meeting in Atlanta and across the vast exhibit show floor. Educational sessions promise actionable information on achieving higher levels of cost efficiencies, EMR adoption, privacy and security, CPOE and quality and patient safety.

The Department of Defense (DOD) and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) interoperability efforts continue but the interagency program needs to implement improvements, according to a January report by the General Accountability Office (GAO).

CoActiv Medical has launched a new Exam-PACS touch screen image view for the new Apple iPad large-screen digital viewing and communications device.

Sunquest will introduce its Integrated Clinical Environment physician portal to the U.S. marketplace this year.

Health IT leaders, who are looking into joining an health information exchange (HIE) platform, must first build trust, advised to Dana Gibson, vice president of WNC Data Link Services, which includes 16 hospitals in western North Carolina. CMIO spoke with Gibson about how to her organization developed this network.

Whether health information exchange (HIE) efforts start from the ashes of a defunct regional health information organization or some other impetus, all share the goal of actually exchanging healthcare information, and implementers have the foresight (and stubbornness) necessary to overcome a range of obstacles. Arguably, the biggest of these are matters of trust and money.

Hartford Healthcare is implementing an health information exchange (HIE) platform that will connect providers in the Hartford, Conn.-based healthcare system and be deployed in a statewide demonstration project beginning next month.CMIO spoke with Steve ONeill, vice president of information services at Hartford Healthcare, about building an HIE using open-source tools.