Wyoming Department of Health plans to form a statewide, medical community-owned health information exchange (HIE), called the Wyoming Frontier Information Exchange (WYFI).
Following a thorough assessment of the state’s health information environment, the Wyoming Department of Health determined the need to establish a secure venue for providers to obtain patient information across the state. The WYFI will be a centralized repository of clinical data for participating patients. WDH is partnering with Salt Lake City-based technology vendor Medicity on the initiative and will utilize Medicity’s data aggregation and interoperability capabilities to meet the needs of its population’s health, while improving quality of care.
“Currently, providers are struggling to coordinate quality care due to limited access to patient information,” James Bush, M.D., Wyoming Medicaid medical director with the Wyoming Department of Health, said in a statement. “By forming the statewide HIE and utilizing Medicity’s solutions, we can build a community of health that will securely place comprehensive, usable data into the hands of our healthcare providers. Furthermore, we look forward to our partnership with Medicity to bring easier interstate connections and unlock the potential for greater information sharing.”
To ensure streamlined, quality care, providers throughout Wyoming will have access to a single, de-duplicated, comprehensive Continuity of Care Document (CCD) to safely, securely and electronically share patient’s data, further identifying care gaps and receiving a 360-degree view of the patient population and their needs. This next generation of interoperability will shift how providers obtain information, as well as evaluate the health of their patients.
“We’re excited to partner with the state of Wyoming and share our expertise with their providers to bring the medical community together,” Patrice R. Wolfe, chief executive officer of Medicity, said. “We look forward to building a platform that brings easy access to all the clinical data and insights providers need to coordinate the best care for the patients they serve.”
Planning for the WYFI began in 2016, and the contract with Medicity was signed in December 2017. With this partnership, providers will soon be able to access patient records from labs, emergency rooms, practices and other medical facilities. Due to Medicity’s connection with Colorado and South Dakota, Wyoming hopes to compile beneficial data on a larger scale, representing a multi-state HIE and broadening their borders to obtain a patient’s complete picture both inside and outside the state.
