There has been significant collaboration on the health information exchange front over the past month with regional HIEs merging, states linking data and a new strategic relationship that aims to streamline connectivity between EHRs and HIEs.

Southern Tier Healthlink and Taconic Health information and Community, which collectively span 11 counties across the Hudson Valley, Catskills and Southern Tier, are planning to merge into a single entity called HealthlinkNY.

The EHR/HIE Interoperability Workgroup, HIMSS and Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise have formed a strategic relationship to move forward efforts to streamline the process for achieving connectivity between EHR and health information exchange systems. ICSA Labs will serve as the testing and certification body for this effort.

Georgia Health Information Network, Georgia's health information exchange, and South Carolina's Health Information Exchange, are now linked and can facilitate the secure exchange of patient health information.

ADT alerts, or real-time clinical alerts of an admission, discharge or transfer, are helping healthcare organizations in Rhode Island reduce 30-day hospital admissions, duplicate testing and emergency department (ED) visits, according to a Health IT Buzz blog post.

Staffing challenges abound at health information exchanges (HIE), but salaries continue to edge upwards, according to a joint online survey conducted by the American Health Information Management Association and the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society.

Regional health information exchanges (HIEs) have been joining forces and the federal focus on interoperability can only help the cause. Lowering other barriers also is leading to a greater rate of information exchange.

The Growing Portland collaborative, a City of Portland initiative to create jobs, generate investments and attract young workers, has received a $50,000 grant to study the possibility of establishing a health informatics sector in Maine.