Manifest MedEx is the first health information exchange in California to announce it intends to apply for designation as a Qualified Health Information Organization (QHIO) in the state’s Data Exchange Framework (DxF).
The statewide data-sharing agreement involving healthcare entities, government agencies, and social service programs begins in 2024.
A QHIO is a health information organization that has demonstrated its ability to meet DxF data exchange requirements. Under California law passed in 2021, most healthcare organizations are required to share health data as defined by the DxF so that every resident in the state can benefit from seamlessly coordinated care and services regardless of where they live or seek care. For many healthcare organizations without the current technical capability to meet the DxF requirements, a QHIO can help them securely participate in the DxF as permitted and required.
“Manifest MedEx has long been committed to advancing interoperability and health data-sharing across California in service to patients and their care teams,” said Jarrod McNaughton, board chair of Manifest MedEx and CEO of Inland Empire Health Plan, in a statement. “Becoming a QHIO is an important step in enabling and supporting the high-quality health data infrastructure our state needs to ensure all Californians get the care they need, and no one falls through the cracks.”
Manifest MedEx has earned HITRUST CSF Certification since 2019. The nonprofit health data network securely shares permitted health data for approximately 37 million Californians — over 90 percent of Californians — across a network of more than 1,800 healthcare providers, 125 hospitals, and 13 health plans, including Aetna, Blue Shield of California, Anthem Blue Cross, Health Net, and Inland Empire Health Plan. A participant in eHealth Exchange and leveraging their connection to the Carequality Framework, Manifest MedEx provides millions of longitudinal health records every month to care teams at some of California’s largest health systems, including Kaiser Permanente and Sutter Health.
In 2021, Manifest MedEx was also designated as a QHIO under the California Health Information Exchange Onboarding Program (Cal-HOP), an incentive program created to help hospitals and providers participate in and share data through health information exchanges to improve the quality and effectiveness of care for Medi-Cal beneficiaries.
The Los Angeles Network of Enhanced Services (LANES), the regional health information exchange (HIE) for Los Angeles County, is a QHIO for the Cal-HOP grant. LANES, which currently supports 10 million lives and manages over half a billion transactions annually, will likely become a QHIO under DxF as well.
“We applaud the state for recognizing the importance of secure and robust health data exchange that is integral to advancing health and health equity for all Californians,” said Erica Galvez, CEO of Manifest MedEx, in a statement. “We will continue to support all mandatory signatories under the DxF in their efforts to share and use health data to benefit individual Californians and the population as a whole. Earning the state’s QHIO designation will be an honor.”
Manifest MedEx also intends to participate in the Office of the National Coordinator’s (ONC’s) Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement (TEFCA) exchange through eHealth Exchange.
