State Alliance Issues Recommendations for HIE

The Washington-based State Alliance for e-Health published a report offering guidelines for states on the use of healthcare IT as the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act is instituted.

The report, Preparing to Implement HITECH: A State Guide for Electronic Health Information Exchange, recommends that states take the follow actions in order to prepare for HITECH:

• Prepare or update the state plan for health information exchange (HIE) adoption;
• Engage stakeholders;
• Establish a state leadership office to manage the different phases of HIE implementation;
• Prepare state agencies to participate;
• Implementing privacy strategies and reforms;
• Determine the HIE business model;
• Create a communications strategy; and
• Establish opportunities for health IT training and education.

The State Alliance for e-Health is a consensus-based, executive-level body composed of governors, state legislators, attorney generals and state commissioners. It was created by the NGA Center for Best Practices in 2006 to address the unique role states can play in facilitating adoption of health IT and health information exchange. The Alliance provides a nationwide forum through which governors, state policymakers and other stakeholders can work together to identify effective HIT policies and best practices and explore solutions to challenges related to the exchange of health information.