A subsidiary of the Michigan Health Information Network has formed the Velatura HIE Corp., a nonprofit organization that will offer affiliation and integration opportunities to health information exchanges (HIEs) across the country. Missouri-based Midwest Health Connection (MHC), formerly the Missouri Health Connection, has joined as an inaugural member.
The move continues the trend of consolidation as HIE organizations seek to scale up. Already this year two Midwestern health information exchanges, the Nebraska Health Information Initiative (NEHII) and the Iowa Health Information Network (IHIN), have agreed to merge. Last year, the HIEs in Colorado and Arizona announced a plan to form a regional health data utility in the West.
On Dec. 31, MHC executed an affiliation agreement to become a subsidiary of the Velatura HIE Corp. and the first HIE to take advantage of the services offered by Velatura, which include provider directory, public health reporting, patient-provider attribution services, transition of care/encounter notifications, quality measure reporting and telehealth. Velatura said the new consolidated HIE service organization is one of the largest of its type in the country, connecting more than 1,300 healthcare organizations.
“Velatura has a proven record of success and their services and processes directly align with MHC’s mission to improve the quality of medical decision-making and coordination of care within the health care ecosystem,” said Angie Bass, president and CEO of MHC, in a statement. “The members of the MHC network have always been leaders in the HIE landscape, and this affiliation is just another indicator of their commitment to advance initiatives for the interoperability of health data. We’re more determined than ever to deliver reliable and secure solutions for the interchange of health information between health delivery providers and health services organizations—and we’re thrilled to be partnering with an industry leader like Velatura to do so.”
MHC said it would transition its operations into the Velatura HIE Corp., which will enable it to expand its service offerings to MHC’s network members by providing solutions and meet the needs of healthcare stakeholders across the country. Wrapping the MHC member network into Velatura will create one of the largest HIE service organization in the United States by connecting more than 1,300 healthcare organizations, the organizations said.
“As the HIE landscape shifts with national trends, initiatives and priorities like COVID-19 recovery and response efforts and the standardization and uniformity in electronic health data sharing and interoperability, we believe we are stronger together than we are apart to help lead the charge across the nation to make interoperability valuable, meaningful and successful,” said Tim Pletcher, CEO of MiHIN, in a statement.
