[IEEE-bhpjobs] Fwd: NHIN TRIAL IMPLEMENTATION AWARDS ANNOUNCED

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-----Original Message-----
From: Szemraj, Nancy (HHS/ONC) [mailto:Nancy.Szemraj at HHS.GOV]
Sent: Tuesday, October 9, 2007 02:04 PM
To: HEALTH-IT at LIST.NIH.GOV
Subject: NHIN TRIAL IMPLEMENTATION AWARDS ANNOUNCED

The following is a copy of the press release that was issued on Friday,
5 October, 2007 announcing the NHIN Trial Implementation Awards.

 

 

 

HHS Awards Contracts for Trial Implementations of the Nationwide Health
Information Network

Major Step toward Secure and Portable Health Information for American
Consumers and Clinicians

 

HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt announced today the award of contracts
totaling $22.5 million to nine health information exchanges (HIEs) to
begin trial implementations of the Nationwide Health Information Network
(NHIN). 

 

These contracts will create a secure foundation for basic health
information exchange between select HIEs upon which more complex
functions will be possible over time.  This work will advance the nation
toward the President's goal of most Americans having access to secure
electronic health records by 2014, by creating a secure foundation for
health information exchange that can follow Americans throughout their
lives. 

 

"These trial implementations are taking place in communities across
America that are leading the way to health care transformation using
secure, interoperable health information technology," Secretary Leavitt
said. "Trial implementations of the Nationwide Health Information
Network will bring us steps closer to a health IT system that will
improve quality of care, increase efficiencies in health care, and
improve disease prevention." 

 

Awardees include the following organizations, representing broad-based
state and regional health information exchanges: 

 

CareSpark -- Tricities region of Eastern Tennessee and Southwestern
Virginia

Delaware Health Information Network -- Delaware 

Indiana University -- Indianapolis metroplex

Long Beach Network for Health -- Long Beach and Los Angeles, California

Lovelace Clinic Foundation -- New Mexico

MedVirginia -- Central Virginia

New York eHealth Collaborative -- New York

North Carolina Healthcare Information and Communications Alliance, Inc.
-- North Carolina

West Virginia Health Information Network -- West Virginia

 

These contractors will participate in the NHIN Cooperative -- a
collaborative to test and demonstrate the exchange of private and secure
health information among providers, patients and other health care
stakeholders.  

 

"The NHIN trial implementations are another important step toward
improving health and care of individuals and communities and to continue
to modernize health care delivery," said Dr. Robert Kolodner, national
coordinator for health information technology.

 

HHS' Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to announce
contract awards in December, 2007, that will complement these efforts to
further develop the NHIN.  This joint work will ensure that health
information exchanges using the NHIN infrastructure can support the
community-based activities of public health agencies.

 

Interim NHIN results will be shared through three public forums and
other public demonstrations of real-time information exchange at the end
of the first contract year (September 2008).

 

Once created, the NHIN health information exchanges' specifications and
related testing materials will be placed in the public domain to
facilitate widespread participation in the developing the NHIN.

 

HIEs are networks that securely connect electronic health records for
providers and patients. Together, these HIEs will form the "network of
networks," that will form the NHIN. The NHIN trial implementations will
leverage recent accomplishments of HHS, its contractors and partners,
including: the Healthcare Information Technology Standards Panel
(HITSP), the Certification Commission for Healthcare Information
Technology (CCHIT), the Health Information Security and Privacy
Collaboration (HISPC) and the National Committee on Vital and Health
Statistics (NCVHS).

 

More details on these contracts are available at
http://www.hhs.gov/healthit.