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Providers and other subscribers can use a single connection to receive comprehensive event notifications from health information exchange networks Connected Community Health Information Exchange and Texas Health Services Authority without the burden of managing multiple contracts, integrations or vendor relationships, the two Texas HIEs said.
WHY IT MATTERS
Broader data visibility and mobility at scale could improve health outcomes and help make care seamless for patients, said C3HIE and THSA in their announcement on Friday.
The unified approach is expected to reduce administrative complexities while expanding data availability for clinical and operational decision-making. Participants of either organization are now part of Texas' largest interoperability network, according to Phil Beckett, THSA's CEO and formerly CEO of C3HIE.
"The days of being locked into data only from one HIE are over," he said in a statement.
The organizations are calling the agreement a "Golden Spike" moment, akin to the uniting of the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads at Promontory Summit in 1869.
It offers an open invitation to all providers and partnering social organizations to end data silos that previously hobbled healthcare delivery efforts. It will also strengthen the data infrastructure upon which advanced analytics and value-based care depend, the HIEs said.
The real-time exchange of encounter event messages between the C3HIE and THSA networks makes patient data available to clinicians and care managers across regions and even state lines, which could help to strengthen care continuity, they said.
The connection presents a fundamental change to how participating healthcare providers access and use patient information. They will receive vital encounter information from across both HIE networks, enhancing clinicians' visibility into a patient's health journey at the points of care and their ability to intervene earlier.
For patients, better care coordination enabled by their health data's visibility could reduce their care engagement burdens, such as repeating medical tests, sending multiple records releases to share data with other providers and checking on information delays.
This level of health data interoperability in Texas could ultimately lead to improved outcomes and lower costs, the HIEs said.
THE LARGER TREND
HIE leaders know that barriers to health data exchange exacerbate healthcare challenges and support investing in interoperability.
Over the last few years, many HIEs, such as Virginia Health Information, have made data-sharing agreements with similar organizations or have joined qualified health information networks under the national Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement being implemented in phases.
Last year, C3HIE announced that it was using PointClickCare, a care collaboration vendor, to connect 40 Texas hospitals and improve patient care interoperability across the state. Under that agreement, the HIE added its admission, discharge and transfer data to PointClickCare and enabled the hospitals to leverage the company's skilled nursing facility information.
THSA also uses PointClickCare to share emergency department-encounter notification across more than 100 Texas healthcare facilities.
ON THE RECORD
"Participating with either C3HIE or THSA now makes you part of the largest interoperability network in Texas, with the continuity, visibility and clinical support needed to care for patients wherever they go," Beckett said in a statement.
