CPSI and Sunquest join CommonWell Health Alliance

Two companies announced that they are joining forces with the six-member CommonWell Health Alliance, a vendor-driven effort to define, promote and certify a national infrastructure facilitating interoperability.

Specifically, Computer Programs and Systems (CPSI) and Sunquest Information Systems announced they are linking up with Alliance founding members Allscripts, athenahealth, Cerner, Greenway Medical Technologies and McKesson and service provider RelayHealth to promote the seamless exchange of health information.

The CommonWell Alliance was unveiled at HIMSS 2013 in early March; its launch was the subject of some controversy because EHR vendor Epic claimed it was not invited to join. At a recent National eHealth Collaborative webinar on July 22, Arien Malec, vice president, strategy, RelayHealth and representative of the CommonWell Health Alliance, said that testing of the interoperability platform will occur through the rest of the year, with the results forthcoming at 2014 HIMSS. By the second quarter of next year, the alliance will conduct testing with the second wave of partners, with expected national deployment in the third quarter of 2014, Malec said at the event.

“We’re glad to be part of CommonWell Health Alliance to achieve data liquidity as a critical foundation for delivering better-coordinated, more-effective care,” said CPSI President and CEO Boyd Douglas in a statement. Likewise, Richard Atkin, president of Sunquest, said he is excited to join the CommonWell Health Alliance, noting that lack of interoperability “threatens the physical health of our population and impairs the efficiency and effectiveness of the healthcare system.”