AHIMA FOUNDATION RECEIVES CONTRACT TO CONTINUE STATE LEVEL HEALTH INFORMATION EXCHANGE PROJECT
eHealth Initiative and HIMSS to provide content and dissemination support

CHICAGO, February 28—The Foundation of Research and Education (FORE) of the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) today announced it has been awarded a contract by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) to continue its work on a State Level Health Information Exchange Consensus project.

“The contract builds on and extends the important work completed to date by FORE in developing emerging best practices and practical tools for state level health information exchange initiatives (HIEs),” said Dr. Robert Kolodner, Interim National Coordinator, ONC. “It will expand the body of knowledge of emerging best practices that will be helpful to state level and regional HIEs.”

“Under the guidance of a superb project Steering Committee, and with the help of the eHealth Initiative (eHI) and the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS), this work will accelerate learning and thus progress in the development of effective state-level HIE organizations,” said Linda Kloss, RHIA, FAHIMA, AHIMA’s CEO. “This is a critical time for state-level HIE initiatives as they develop firm organizational footing, financial sustainability, and demonstrate their value to the citizens of their states and to the nationwide health IT transformation.”

The work will be guided by an expanded project Steering Committee and will include:

• Three best practice research studies on governance, financial sustainability, HIE and information practices, with research teams to be named.
• Identifying criteria for recognition of state level HIEs.
• Development and hosting of quarterly Webinar sessions following completion of research studies to share findings, at no fee, with interested stakeholders.
• Hosting a national consensus conference to discuss evolving practice and policy issues.
• Broadly disseminating findings through regularly updated and electronically published materials.
• Dissemination and dialogue through other media and venues.

eHI and HIMSS will assist in co-convening the consensus conference and stakeholder meetings and help broadly disseminate findings. Content experts from each organization will work with the research teams, and a representative from each group also will serve on the project Steering Committee. The National Conference of State Legislatures will also continue its role as an advisor to the Steering Committee.

“We are committed to supporting the development of regional health information organizations (RHIOs) and are pleased to contribute to development of new learning through this project,” stated Steve Lieber, President and CEO of HIMSS. “The work done thus far has produced valuable public domain guidance for developing state level HIE organizations, as well as state and national policy makers.”

Janet Marchibroda, CEO of eHI, added that “Since the inception of eHI’s Connecting Communities for Better Health program in 2003, eHI has nurtured the rapid development of multi-stakeholder collaboration at the state, regional and community levels to improve the quality, safety and efficiency of healthcare through health information exchange. We look forward to serving as an important dissemination vehicle for the federal government’s work and also contributing the lessons learned from our grassroots-level work to the process.”

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ABOUT AHIMA AND FORE
AHIMA is the premier association of health information management (HIM) professionals. AHIMA's 51,000 members are dedicated to the effective management of personal health information needed to deliver quality healthcare to the public. Founded in 1928 to improve the quality of medical records, AHIMA is committed to advancing the HIM profession in an increasingly electronic and global environment through leadership in advocacy, education, certification, and lifelong learning.

FORE provides financial and intellectual resources to sustain and recognize continuous innovation and advances in HIM for the betterment of the profession, healthcare, and the public. For more information about FORE, visit www.ahima.org/fore.

ABOUT THE EHEALTH INITIATIVE AND ITS FOUNDATION
The eHealth Initiative and its Foundation are independent, non-profit affiliated organizations whose missions are the same: to drive improvements in the quality, safety, and efficiency of healthcare through information and information technology. eHI engages multiple stakeholders, including clinicians, consumer and patient groups, employers, health plans, healthcare IT suppliers, hospitals and other providers, laboratories, pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers, pharmacies, public health, and public sector agencies, as well as its growing coalition of more than 280 state, regional and community-based collaboratives, to develop and disseminate common principles, policies and best practices for improving the quality, safety and effectiveness of America's healthcare through information and information technology. For more information, go to www.ehealthinitiative.org.

ABOUT HIMSS
HIMSS is the healthcare industry's membership organization exclusively focused on providing global leadership for the optimal use of healthcare information technology (IT) and management systems for the betterment of healthcare. Founded in 1961 with offices in Chicago, Washington D.C., Brussels, and other locations across the United States and Europe, HIMSS represents more than 20,000 individual members and over 300 corporate members that collectively represent organizations employing millions of people. HIMSS frames and leads healthcare public policy and industry practices through its advocacy, educational and professional development initiatives designed to promote information and management systems’ contributions to ensuring quality patient care. For more information, visit www.himss.org.