Medical terminology management company Health Language has added a procedure category to its provider friendly terminology code set that includes 40,000 synonyms, abbreviations and colloquial expressions, which are commonly used by healthcare professionals when documenting or searching for patient data.

A look at the health information exchange (HIE) news over the past month shows increasing activity around the U.S. as more providers, vendors and statewide systems light up new areas and more health data is exchanged. This months interviews with NoVaRHIO officials and the CEO of the National eHealth Collaborative highlight ways that HIE can enable better communication among ED staff, and the Nationwide Health Information Networks potential role in disease management.

NoVaRHIO, the Northern Virginia Regional Health information Organization, launched a pilot project at the end of August, exchanging information among emergency department physicianswhere such exchange is arguably the most problematic.

The Nationwide Healthcare Information Network (NHIN) framework will provide an opportunity to greatly expand disease management efforts, said Aaron Seib, CEO of the National eHealth Collaborative, a Washington, D.C.-based public-private organization advocating the adoption of an interoperable, nationwide health information system. Seib spoke with CMIO recently about the potentials of such a system, including near-real time delivery of more and better clinical data.

MedLink, in collaboration with Thrasys, have formed the New York Health Information Network, a regional health information network that falls under the Connected Healthcare initiative launched by the two companies earlier this year.

The Colorado Regional Extension Center (CO-REC) has inked its 800th provider letter of agreement and is more than one-third of the way toward reaching its goal of signing a total of 2,295 primary care providers to receive support implementing and using EHRs.

The Nebraska Medical Center, a 624-bed academic medical center in Omaha, has subscribed to CapSites online service that provides details on healthcare technology pricing and packaging to improve the capital expenditure process.

The state of Iowa has selected Hielix and Mednet to develop a strategic business and financial sustainability plan to support a statewide health information exchange (HIE).