The Louisiana Health Care Quality Forum is on the fast track to develop the Louisiana Health Information Exchange (LaHIE), which will give providers access to health records and connect existing sources of patient data within the state. To accomplish this, the Quality Forum has selected Orion Health as its primary technology provider.
According to Cindy Munn, the Quality Forum’s executive director, the initial focus of the project will be to develop secure point-to-point messaging to help providers access critical health information and to achieve meaningful use quickly.
Additional benefits of LaHIE are designed to improve timely access to patient information, improve patient safety, increase security of records, increase consumer engagement, more adequately measure and improve public health benchmarks and reduce health care costs.
The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) approved the Louisiana Health Care Quality Forum’s strategic and operational plan for LaHIE earlier this year. The Quality Forum is a private, not-for-profit organization that serves as the State-Designated Entity to plan and implement LaHIE, to oversee the state’s regional extension center and to lead initiatives designed to improve health care quality for Louisiana residents.
