The eHealth initiative has released the 2011 eHealth Initiative Toolkit, the third iteration of its online document designed to assist stakeholders with implementation and maintenance of health information exchanges (HIEs), according to the Washington, D.C.-based group.

This is the sixth installment in CMIO's exclusive web series exploring the birth of Rhode Islands statewide health information exchange (HIE), featuring the leading stakeholders and clinical perspectives on its development.

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health ITs (ONC) Direct Project has had a pretty good year: More than 65 organizations have announced support for implementing the Direct Project, and 20 states now have ONC-approved plans that include its mechanism for information exchange over the internet. So, the panelists in a March 21 National eHealth Collaborative webinar had reason to be optimistic when they were asked to comment on the growth prospects for Direct Projects use cases.

The Direct Project, a mechanism for basic, secure internet-based exchange between trusted entities, is powering pilot exchanges in New York, Rhode Island and elsewhere. More initiatives will go live in the near future, according to NHIN 301, a webinar update on the Direct Project and its relationship to the Standards & Interoperability Framework, sponsored by the National e-Health Collaborative.

Lawson Software has received an unsolicited, non-binding proposal from Infor and Golden Gate Capital to acquire all of Lawsons outstanding common stock at a price of $11.25 per share in cash, or approximately $1.8 billion. The parties are engaged in discussions regarding the proposal; however, there is no assurance that any agreement will be reached, according to a statement on the St. Paul, Minn.-based Lawson website.

Informatics Corporation of America (ICA) and nonprofit healthcare organization Meridian Health announced that Meridians six hospitals along mid-coast New Jersey are connected via ICAs CareAlign health information exchange (HIE) tool.

Coastal Connect, a regional collaboration of healthcare professionals in and around Eastern North Carolina, selected Medicity to power its community-wide health information exchange (HIE) across five independent hospitals.

Six health plans--Aetna, CDPHP, Hudson Health Plan, MVP Health Care, UnitedHealthcare and Empire BlueCross Blue Shield--in cooperation with Taconic Health Information Network and Community (THINC) paid $1.5 million this year to 236 primary care physicians in 11 practices that achieved patient-centered medical home (PCMH) recognition from the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA). The incentives were paid to providers for transformation to a PCMH and for services patients receive in a medical home.