As healthcare providers across the country and around the world work on the front lines of our fight against the COVID-19 virus, health information exchanges have their backs—bringing data to the point of care, building enhanced reporting capabilities, and providing critical regional coordination. We reached out to some of our HIE customers from across the country to see what they’re doing to help support and protect their communities. Here’s what they told us.
Healthix
New York’s largest health information exchange, Healthix, serves 20M patients in the NY metro area. In support of care coordination and public health initiatives during the COVID-19 pandemic, Healthix is sending daily abstracts to both city and state health departments who are tracking virus progression throughout the State. To further support its participant organizations, at Healthix’s request, NYS Dept. of Health has temporarily waived consent requirements around COVID-19 notification to providers when a test is ordered and when results are available. The number of COVID-19 alerts sent by the HIE has grown to over 150,000 per day. Healthix has also partnered with J2 to quickly develop and implement a verbal consent workflow to support the growing need for telehealth encounters. Their COVID-19 communication plan includes ongoing conference calls for Healthix participant organizations, daily website updates, and regular updates to a PDF Fact Sheet.
Manifest MedEx
Manifest MedEx (MX) is a nonprofit health data network that facilitates the exchange of information for 20 million Californians through its network of over 400 healthcare organizations. MX has been coordinating with a number of public health departments and officials to identify at-risk populations for COVID-19 and uncover trends in health care utilization to monitor hospital and health system capacity. It also provides tools to help support participants’ COVID-19 efforts, including: MX Analyze, a predictive analytics tool that identifies high-risk patients for users so they can reach out and provide guidance on staying safe during the COVID-19 outbreak; MX Notify, a real-time notification service that can track patients who test positive for COVID-19; and MX Access, which provides longitudinal health records based on clinical and claims data, giving users insight into patients’ medications and other important aspects of their health history that can impact their COVID-19 risk.
Mount Nittany
Mount Nittany Exchange’s parent organization, Mount Nittany Health, is actively responding to the COVID-19 pandemic in central Pennsylvania. Mount Nittany Health is leading efforts in the region to establish screening for all staff and visitors to its facilities to protect employees and patients when seeking services at local healthcare facilities. They are also working closely with local, county, and state officials to provide support for public health monitoring and reporting.
Missouri Health Connection
Missouri Health Connection (MHC) provides data services to thousands of physicians, serving patients in 75+ hospitals and more than 350 clinics in Missouri and neighboring states. Their website offers a statement from CEO Angie Bass, detailing the history and current status of the virus. In addition, they provide a COVID-19 FAQ and Essential Health Benefit Coverage FAQ. MHC is also working with the MO Department of Health and Senior Services to give updates about the virus daily at 2 PM CT, as well as publishing informational PDF’s.
etHIN
East Tennessee Health Information Network (etHIN) is a non-profit community health information exchange serving the needs of healthcare providers in a primary 23-county region in East Tennessee. etHIN is closely monitoring the COVID-19 pandemic and has developed alerting options specific to the outbreak to support healthcare providers’ efforts to stem the spread of the virus. Visit etHIN’s homepage for the latest COVID-19 updates from the Tennessee Department of Health and CDC.
Visit their website: www.ethin.org
Greater Houston HealthConnect
Greater Houston Healthconnect (GHH) serves more than 75 counties in South and East Texas, and 40 Louisiana parishes, covering over 100 hospitals and 1,000 clinics and practices. GHH remains fully operational with all service lines during this pandemic, including data, diagnostic images, alerts on patient encounters, syndromic surveillance, and our other quality and public health initiatives. The severity of this virus appears to depend on the underlying health conditions of the patient, therefore, the patient’s medical history is essential for assessment and ensuring the most appropriate care plan. GHH continues to deliver patient health histories to the point of care across our community during this challenging time. In addition, GHH is monitoring for and collecting COVID-19 test results and querying for complete medical histories on patients positive for the virus. In collaboration with Public Health and a cross-institutional team of specialists, researchers analyze the data to improve the quality of care and identify best practice interventions.
Visit their website: www.ghhconnect.org
Michigan Health Information Network Shared Services
Health Information Network Shared Services (MiHIN) has been leading the way in various efforts surrounding the secure exchange of health information for a decade. Their focus has always been, and always will be, the residents of Michigan. With the COVID-19 pandemic, it has been MiHIN’s mission over the past several weeks to amplify their efforts in the best way possible to reduce burdens on MI’s medical communities and lead statewide efforts to increase efficiency for sharing data, accessing data across caregivers, and reduce burdens on physicians and those on the front line.
Visit their website: mihin.org
For More Information
- The CDC’s COVID-19 Page provides informational PDFs about the virus and resources for communities and healthcare professionals
- The World Health Organization’s COVID-19 Page offers an overview of the virus, as well as prevention and symptoms
- COVID-19 Global Map by Johns Hopkins University
RIQI
The Rhode Island Quality Institute is keeping in touch with their community via Twitter. Recent tweets remind Rhode Islanders to socially distance and practice good hygiene. They also provide community news related to partnerships with local agencies to support COVID-19 response, as well as special support from local pharmacies.
Visit their website:www.riqi.org
The Strategic HIE Collaborative (SHIEC)
Along with its member HIEs and strategic business and technology partners, SHIEC is actively engaged and coordinating with federal, state and local public health organizations to respond to the global COVID-19 pandemic. See SHIEC’s HIE response info sheet.
J2 Interactive delivers solutions to health information exchanges for integrations and interoperability—as well as rapid delivery of automation and operational efficiencies on multiple platforms.For more information, please get in touch with us:
