Contents May 2011
Cover
Features
28
Seeking the
United State
of HIEs
Connecting Information
Exchange Efforts Is
ONC’s Next Challenge
The federal government has
been actively encouraging health
information exchange through
direct grants and leadership.
However, its challenge now is
keeping focused and getting the
multiple efforts aligned.
By Chris Dimick
34
Opting for Opt Out
How One HIE Manages Patient Consent
Every health information exchange must determine how it will gain
consent from patients to share their information. The Nebraska Health
Information Initiative chose opt out and with good communication and
management has maintained a high rate of patient participation.
By Deb Bass
42
Speeding Decisions
Social Security’s Information Exchange Program
The Social Security Administration has plenty of reasons to streamline
its records request process—more than 15 million reasons each year,
in fact. That’s why it has been pioneering information exchange projects
with the private sector, including use of the Nationwide Health Information Network. By Kitt Winter and Bob Hastings
38
Direct Results
An HIE Tests Simple Information Exchange
Using the Direct Project
Some HIEs were surprised when the federal government announced a
project to enable direct provider-to-provider information exchange. But
CareSpark, an HIE piloting the lightweight exchange method, is seeing
the benefits for users and a logical integration into the services it offers.
By Chris Voigt and Susan Torzewski
20
AHIMA 2011 Ballot
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