MeHI Awards $2.35 Million to Accelerate Connections to Statewide HIE

The Massachusetts eHealth Institute at the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative (MeHI) has announced 32 collaborative projects that will receive HIway Implementation Grants of up to $75,000 each that will assist 80 healthcare organizations across the Commonwealth in connecting to the statewide health information exchange (HIE), the Mass HIway, enabling them to improve patient care and reduce costs.

Recipients were awarded grants based on their ability to build upon existing improvement efforts that impact care quality, costs, or population health. Types of collaborative projects receiving funding include:

• A large facility using the HIway to manage heart failure patient care
• Coordination between care facilities and patient care coordinators
• An ambulance service using the HIway for pre-hospital care coordination for the homeless
• An acute care organization using the HIway to share discharge summaries to skilled nursing facilities and home health organizations

“We are excited to award these grants to healthcare organizations across the Commonwealth,” Pamela Goldberg, CEO of the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, said in a statement. “We congratulate the recipients on this achievement, and for their commitment to using the Mass HIway and health information technologies, ushering in a new era for patient care.”

In 2012, MeHI and the Executive Office of Health and Human Services launched the statewide health information exchange, the MassHIway, allowing for secure electronic health information to be transmitted between healthcare providers and organizations.

Part of the Mass HIWay Last Mile Program, the Implementation Grants are designed to accelerate connections to the Mass HIway by shifting existing processes away from paper-based exchanges and those using proprietary interfaces, ultimately demonstrate measurable improvements in care quality, population health, and cost containment through use of health information technology. The Last Mile Program is funded through the Office of the National Coordinator of Health IT (ONC).