Wednesday, November 4, 2009

ARRA HITECH and Health Information Exchange


At the HIMSS virtual conference, the opening keynote was presented by:
John Kansky, MS, MBA
VP -- Business Development, Indiana Health Information Exchange
Indianapolis, IN
His presentation was titled, "ARRA HITECH and Health Information Exchange: Opportunities and Pitfalls"

It was interesting to hear how Indiana built its system to exchange health information. How are other states exchanging health information? We all know that the Nationwide Health Information Network (NHIN) is being developed to provide a secure, nationwide, interoperable health information infrastructure that will connect providers, consumers, and others involved in supporting health and healthcare. However, the NHIN is really a large network consisting of smaller networks. Here's a snippet from the HHS:
To promote a more effective marketplace, greater competition, and increased choice through accessibility to accurate information on healthcare costs, quality, and outcomes, the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) is advancing the NHIN as a “network of networks” which will connect diverse entities that need to exchange health information, such as state and regional health information exchanges (HIEs), integrated delivery systems, health plans that provide care, personally controlled health records, Federal agencies, and other networks as well as the systems to which they, in turn, connect.
Not familiar with all the acronyms?

ARRA: American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
HITECH: Health Information Technology
HIMSS: Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society
NHIN: Nationwide Health Information Network
HIE: Health Information Exchange
HIO: Health Information Organization
ONC: Office of the National Coordinator

Mr. Kansky is Vice President for Business Development for the Indiana Health Information Exchange. He has worked in the healthcare technology field for 22 years with experience in healthcare information technology, health information exchange, and biomedical technology. He has served organizations in the role of Chief Information Officer, Director of Information Systems, and Director of Clinical Engineering and has spoken nationally on healthcare IT, health information exchange, and HIPAA compliance. Mr. Kansky has a BS in Electrical Engineering, an MS in Biomedical Engineering and an MBA. He currently serves on the Health Information and Management System Society (HIMSS) Healthcare Information Exchange Steering Committee and the board of the Indiana Chapter of HIMSS.

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