Earlier this month OHA announced that Reliance eHealth Collaborative was selected to provide onboarding services for the Health Information Exchange (HIE) Onboarding Program. The HIE Onboarding Program will provide financial support for certain initial costs of connecting (onboarding) priority Medicaid providers to a community-based HIE that provides meaningful HIE opportunities and that plays a vital role for Medicaid in that community.
The HIE Onboarding Program will help Medicaid providers (especially rural providers, behavioral health providers, and non-medical providers) connect to a well-established community-based health information exchange to share health information in order to improve patient care. The program will be voluntary and will help providers who, in the past, may not have been able to connect to an HIE due to financial or other barriers, and providers who have previously been ineligible to receive federal financial support for health IT. The Program will be funded by 90 percent federal funds and 10 percent state funds.
Organizations that submitted proposals were required to meet stringent criteria. They had to show that they are currently and successfully providing specific, high-value HIE services, have a substantial footprint in Oregon, and have been endorsed by an Oregon Medicaid Coordinated Care Organization (CCO) and that they have a data, funding, or governance relationship with that CCO. They were also required to demonstrate their sustainability, show how they ensure robust privacy and security, and meet other criteria.
Reliance and OHA are currently negotiating the contract, which will then need to be reviewed and approved by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Reliance looks forward to working with OHA to launch the HIE Onboarding Program in Spring 2018.
The HIE Onboarding Program is one aspect of Oregon’s overall HIT/HIE strategy. It will help support the planned “network of networks” approach to achieving statewide health information exchange, with the goal that all Oregonians have their health information available wherever they receive care. OHA plans to convene a workgroup starting in 2018 to develop the network of networks model.
To learn more about the HIE Onboarding Program, including details about program concept development and frequently asked questions, please visit our website at http://www.oregon.gov/oha/HPA/OHIT/Pages/HIE-Onboarding-Program.aspx.
