Officials in the State of Oklahoma have approved final rules for the implementation of a statewide health information exchange.
The Oklahoma Health Care Authority (OHCA) board of directors voted to approve administrative rules to implement SB1369. The bill, passed by the state legislature in May 2022, requires all providers to use and establish a connection with a statewide HIE by July 1, 2023.
“With the HIE, we can vastly improve public health, care coordination, records exchange, and address care fragmentation for providers,” said Stephen Miller, state coordinator for health information exchange, in a statement. “Utilizing our partnership with MyHealth, the State Designed Entity for HIE operations, we are on the road to making this vision a reality.”
Seventy percent of Oklahomans have a record in more than one healthcare delivery system. The HIE will allow health information to flow seamlessly to and from authorized organizations while adhering to HIPAA and privacy and security standards, OHCA said.
Here is a little back story: Last year, following a long-running dispute about who would run the state health information exchange, OHCA found a compromise. The nonprofit MyHealth, which has been operating as an HIE in Oklahoma since 2010, will operate the HIE using a platform from Orion Health. An editorial in the Tulsa World explained the origins of the dispute. It noted that MyHealth was founded in 2009 by representatives of the Tulsa healthcare industry as a public utility to improve outcomes. Another health information exchange had been operating since 2008, but was integrated into MyHealth in 2014. Since then, MyHealth has been managing 80 percent to 85 percent of Oklahoma’s healthcare activity in its system. “That’s why it was surprising when the Oklahoma Health Care Authority chose the bid by the global technology company Orion Health in 2020 to deliver the statewide health information exchange,” the editorial noted. “MyHealth, which offered a lower bid to administer the exchange, dropped a legal effort contesting the bid process.”
Under the agreement, MyHealth will operate the HIE using the Orion Health Amadeus data platform as well as services and technical solutions from HealthTech Solutions LLC. This will enable the state of Oklahoma to have a single, consolidated HIE to connect providers in the state.
Additionally, OHCA said the HIE supports:
- Reduced health care costs associated with redundant testing, hospital readmissions and emergency department visits.
- Improving care coordination during transitions between health care settings, reducing adverse drug events and missed preventive care.
- Improved patient experience and performance on quality measures.
- Compliance with state and federal programs.
“Oklahoma is on a health transformation journey and OHCA had made a commitment to making sure we are doing everything we can to provide better health outcomes for our friends and neighbors,” said Kevin Corbett, secretary of health and mental health and OHCA CEO, in a statement. “With the HIE, Oklahoma providers can better monitor and focus on whole-person health care for their patients.”
OHCA stressed that patient data is only accessible in secure, approved ways, compliant with HIPAA and privacy security standards. The HIE is set up to monitor access to all healthcare information it receives to ensure patient privacy. Misuse of the system is a crime and is subject to all penalties associated with a HIPAA violation.
The state had recently seen protests from some providers in the behavioral health community about requirements to share mental health data with a statewide database. But OHCA officials stressed that information such as behavioral health information can be marked as sensitive, and only entered into the HIE with written consent from the patient.
OHCA said that psychotherapy notes are excluded from the transmission to the HIE as well as any behavioral health data covered by 42 CFR part 2. Providers may exclude any patient data that is legally obligated to be kept confidential.
“We are excited that we are entering into this next stage where more people will be able to make the choice to participate, if that’s what they wish to do, so that when we are providing care we can do so at the highest possible level,” said Carrie Slatton-Hodges, commissioner for the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, in a statement.
Providers can apply or file for an exemption based on type of provider, financial or technical hardship, or based on size of the practice at OKSHINE.Oklahoma.gov.
Organizations and providers currently connected to and utilizing MyHealth Access Network in compliance with SB 1369 do not need to take additional action.
The Office of the State Coordinator for Health Information Exchange is offering training events to assist providers in the transition.
