Indiana Health Information Exchange (IHIE) has announced that it will connect to the Indiana State Department of Health's Children and Hoosiers Immunization Registry Program (CHIRP). CHIRP is a secure, internet-based immunization registry operated by the Immunization Program of the State Health Department.
This connection will provide secure, seamless integration between IHIE and CHIRP, eliminating a step for physicians and providing greater efficiencies for the State Health Department. It will help physicians ensure immunizations for their patients are up-to-date, in a non-intrusive and convenient manner.
The IHIE/CHIRP connection supports physician and hospital efforts to reach goals established by federal government policies regarding the use of health information technology (health IT). The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH Act) of 2009 introduced incentives from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for eligible healthcare providers (EPs)and eligible hospitals (EHs) to adopt and attain 'meaningful use' of health IT systems, in particular electronic health records (EHRs).
