Representatives from some 20 health information exchanges across the country are collectively forming a national consortium, dubbed the Strategic Health Information Exchange Collaborative, that aims to influence policy and assist members through ideas and improvements
The collaborative has developed a formal organization with by-laws and an elected board of directors. An executive director will be named in early 2015, according to an announcement from the group.
The chair of the newly formed group is Dick Thompson, executive director of Quality Health Network in Colorado, one of the first HIEs in the country. He said the formation of the group is a sign of growth and maturity of the disparate, relatively young HIEs across the country.
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“We believe that there are valuable services that a national consortium can provide to member HIEs such as achieving economies of scale, promoting business models for the sustainability of HIEs, educating and increasing awareness of HIEs among public and private entities, providing opportunities for the establishment of joint ventures and collaborating to inform legislators and policy makers of the benefits to the communities served by our members,” Thompson said in a statement. “In addition, we would like a trade organization that speaks for HIEs exclusively and is focused solely on helping HIEs fulfill their community mission.”
The organization of group is the result of eight years of collaboration among a number of longstanding HIEs, which have been meeting informally for years via annual conferences and monthly conference calls to exchange ideas.
