Penn. Looks to Tap Delaware’s HIE

The Pennsylvania Governor’s Office of Health Care Reform is recommending the state use the existing Delaware Health Information Network as the platform for its statewide health information exchange.


The Pennsylvania Governor's Office of Health Care Reform is recommending the state use the existing Delaware Health Information Network as the platform for its statewide health information exchange.

The recommendation is in a draft strategic plan for the Pennsylvania Health Information Exchange, or PHIX, issued on Nov. 30 with a comment period. Pennsylvania officials believe up to $17 million in federal stimulus funding is available to the state to help fund PHIX.

Leveraging Delaware's live HIE, which uses platform software from Salt Lake City-based Medicity Inc., will speed implementation of PHIX by as much as 18 months, according to Pennsylvania's draft strategic plan. "This is possible by building on an established foundation of defined policies, operational controls and technology infrastructure."

Leveraging the Delaware contract would give Pennsylvania access to the application and hosting services of the Delaware network. "The PHIX governance would have complete control over policies, functionality, implementation priorities, product branding, legal framework and revenue model," according to the strategic plan.

Pennsylvania's draft strategic HIE plan is available at gohcr.state.pa.us/assets/pdfs/PHIXstrategicplan_draft.pdf.

--Joseph Goedert

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