What's in a name - NHIN, NwHIN, HealtheWay, eHealth Exchange...

Brian Ahier | iHealthBeat | November 26, 2012

The Nationwide Health Information Network Exchange (now called the eHealth Exchange) has successfully transitioned to an independently sustainable public-private partnership. This new organization, called HealtheWay, includes four federal agencies -- CMS, the Department of Defense, the Social Security Administration and the Department of Veterans Affairs -- as well as at least 21 non-federal entities that all share patient records for episodes of care. The ability to provide a platform for national exchange is critical to the success of efforts to reach the triple aim of improving the experience of care, boosting the health of populations and reducing per capita costs of health care. By ensuring that clinicians have the right information at the right place at the right time, we can finally begin to make progress in achieving these goals.

... the Electronic Healthcare Network Accreditation Commission (EHNAC) has partnered with DirectTrust to create a national accreditation program for health information service providers (HISPs). HISPs serve as the backbone of the Direct community by providing the framework for secure exchange of clinical messages. With conformance testing by CCHIT and accreditation provided by EHNAC/DirectTust, the trust fabric looks to be developing along strong lines.

There also is the work of a group of state-level HIEs called the Western States Consortium, one of the projects of the State Health Policy Consortium. The purpose of the consortium is to enable safe and secure exchange of health information between and among health care providers in the western states...