How Does HIE Help Me?

Every day, health care professionals have to make important health care decisions for patients, often without access to past or current medical information. And when information is shared, it is usually done via phone, mail and fax.

Better access to vital information about prior conditions, medications, allergies, and tests may improve the accuracy of diagnoses, enhance the quality of care, and eliminate duplicate tests. ConnectVirginia will allow health care professionals the ability to quickly share and view patient information electronically with other participating providers, called Health Information Exchange or “HIE”.

In addition, the ability to exchange clinical information with other providers is a key component of achieving Meaningful Use of EHRs and CMS financial incentives.

Learn more about the benefits of Health IT and HIE.

How Do I Participate?

We provide several services that facilitate the exchange of patient health information.

ConnectVirginia EXCHANGE is service for health systems or hospitals with EHRs that can produce and transmit or receive a Continuity of Care Document (CCD or C-CDA) and have the technology necessary to enable bidirectional exchange utilizing the eHealth Exchange standards and specifications. This service will enable organizations that want to exchange these documents with other organizations outside of their local HIE to do so by onboarding to eHealth Exchange, a national health information exchange consisting of federal agencies and non-federal organizations that share patient health information using a common set of standards and specifications. For more information on eHealth Exchange, including a list of current participants, visit www.sequoiaproject.org.

Our Public Health Reporting service provides transport for public health data (immunizations, syndromic surveillance and electronic lab reporting) from hospitals and ambulatory providers to the Virginia Department of Health.

Our Emergency Department Care Coordination Program service delivers real-time encounter information to providers within their existing workflow. Providers can be alerted when their patients have been admitted, discharged, or transferred from an Emergency Department (ED) or inpatient setting. Participating providers include all Virginia hospitals operating an ED, most health plans in Virginia, and other providers in Virginia and other states.

Meaningful Use

“Meaningful Use” is a term that applies to the use of electronic health records in a meaningful way. The ultimate goal of Meaningful Use is to increase the quality and efficiency of healthcare, and reduce medical errors. Under the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) EHR Incentive Program, eligible healthcare providers must meet Meaningful Use measures to qualify for, and receive, financial incentives for using ONC-certified EHRs. The program includes both eligible professionals (physicians) and eligible hospitals.

Providers who participate in ConnectVirginia may be able to meet the following Meaningful Use criteria:

* Stage 1, Menu Measure 9: Capability to submit electronic data to immunization registries or immunization information systems. Our connection to the Virginia Department of Health is ready.
* Stage 1, Menu Measure 10: Capability to submit electronic syndromic surveillance data to public health agencies. Our connection to the Virginia Department of Health is ready.
* Stage 2, Core Objective 15: Provide a summary care record for each transition of care or referral where the recipient receives the summary of care record via ConnectVirginia EXCHANGE. This capability is currently available to participating EXCHANGE providers.
* Stage 2, Core Objective 16: Capability to submit electronic data to immunization registries. Our connection to the Virginia Department of Health is currently ready.
* Stage 2, Menu Objective 1: Submission of syndromic surveillance data to public health agencies. Our connection to the Virginia Department of Health is currently ready.
* Stage 2, Menu Objective 5: Capability to identify and report cancer cases to a public health central cancer registry. Our connection to the Virginia Department of Health is currently ready.