Health IT and Electronic Health
Activate your FREE membership today |
Log-in
Q:
Readiness for NHIN standards with HIE
Is the NHIN standard going to figure into information exchange, especially in ACOs? It looks like nation-wide HIE is a long way off, maybe even a decade. How much time should be spent on NHIN readiness now?
ASKED:
Dec 29 2011 2:39 PM GMT
A:
RATE THIS ANSWER
0
Click to Vote:
0
Click to Vote:
- 0
0
The NwHIN Direct standard is likely to become the method of "push" exchange among small practices and between small practices and HIEs. The rate of adoption will quicken as EHRs get upgraded to support Direct and services become available via Direct that are not feasible using fax. As with NwHIN Exchange, as EHRs become capable of consuming structure data in standardized vocabularies, Direct will become the preferred way to transport PHI.
The NwHIN Direct standard, when adopted, will be disruptive as it provides a means to transport PHI which is arguably more affordable, faster and easier to use than fax. The advantage of Direct over fax will become more apparent as EHR vendors upgrade their products to support standard transactions, such as the Consolidated CCD and standard vocabularies, such as LOINC, consistently across the various EHR systems.
This will, of course, take years to roll out, just as e-mail did. You would do well, however, to begin learning about these emerging standards and the activities of the various Standards & Interoperability Framework work groups that are working with the ONC to advance the quality, safety and value of health care through improved information exchange.
