Initiate Systems, a developer of heath data management systems, drew on its experience with regional health information organizations to devise a solution for hospitals seeking proprietary health information exchanges.
The company recently rolled out its Initiate Health Information Exchange for Hospitals and Integrated Delivery Networks. The solution is built on Initiate Systems’ Master Data Service technology, which provides identity matching and management, data modeling, and data sharing.
Catherine Schulten, Initiate Systems’ health care product marketing manager, said organizations have used the company’s technology to build exchanges, primarily in the RHIO space. Initiate Systems' customer base in that area includes CareSpark, the Louisiana Rural Health Information Exchange and Brooklyn Health Information Exchange
But beyond RHIOs, Schulten cited growing interest in what she described as proprietary health information exchanges.
“Now we are seeing more…demand from hospitals and [integrated delivery networks] that want to set up their own exchange programs,” she said.
Initiate Systems’ solution indexes patient records from multiple sources and helps hospitals share patient information among hospitals, clinics and health plans, according to the company.
Schulten said localized, proprietary exchanges help hospitals attract high-value providers such as orthopedic surgeons. That’s because the exchange makes it easier to do business with the hospital, she added. “It makes it easier…to get that clinical information to the point of care,” Schulten said.
Potential customers for Initiate Systems’ solution include organizations already participating in a RHIO that want to create a proprietary exchange and those that want to field their own exchange before doing a RHIO, she added.
As is the case with its RHIO business, Initiate Systems will be able to bring in partners to contribute to hospital projects. Those partners include AGFA HealthCare, Allscripts, Carefx, Covisint, Healthvision and Wellogic.
From the battlefield to the home front: Managing medical data
Government Health IT presents Col. Claude Hines Jr., program manager for the Defense Health Information Management System, in this recent InSight eSeminar. Col. Hines discusses the health information technology and tactical challenges faced by the military medical community in Iraq, Afghanistan and other areas of conflict. In doing so, he describes the current information technology solutions for transferring clinical data between battlefield care givers to health care personnel at military treatment facilities worldwide.
