Georgia’s statewide health information exchange, the Georgia Health Information Network (GaHIN), recently awarded $1 million in grants to its members to accelerate technology adoption and the electronic exchange of health information.
According to a GaHIN press release, the GaHIN Intermediary Grant Program has helped healthcare providers and hospital in the state connect to the HIE in order to securely access and share patient information at the point of care.
Intermediaries are hospital-based and regional HIEs that have direct technical interoperable connections to GaHIN, the organization said, and the program was funded by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), with the Georgia Department of Community Health passing the funds through to GaHIN to develop and execute the program.
GaHIN members receiving the grant awards include Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Grady Health System, HealtheConnection, Georgia Health Connect and Georgia Regional Academic Community Health Information Exchange (GRAChIE).
“GaHIN’s mission is to improve the quality of care and care outcomes while reducing costs, and we do that by ensuring providers have the patient information they need at the point of care,” Denise Hines, GaHIN executive director said. “The Intermediary Grant Program helped us to provide a high level of support to practices and hospitals to allow them to access and exchange health information, bringing value to them and the patients they serve.”
GaHIN’s members include regional HIEs, hospital systems, physician groups and individual practitioners.
GaHIN offers a number of services to its members, including GeorgiaDirect, which enables providers to securely transmit patient health information to other authorized healthcare professionals, and
Georgia ConnectedCare, a health IT solution that enables providers to securely access a patient’s complete health record through their electronic health record (EHR) system.
