The Strategic Health Information Exchange Collaborative (SHIEC), a national collaborative representing health information exchanges (HIEs), has announced the addition of three new HIE members: HealthInfoNet (Maine), OneHealthPort, (Washington) and WISHIN, (Wisconsin).
These new HIE members bring new HIE members from “coast to coast and in between,” according to Kelly Hoover Thompson, CEO of SHIEC. “As SHIEC grows its membership, it continues to increase the value that it offers to its members,” Hoover Thompson said in a statement. “In addition, the rapid growth of this national collaborative of HIEs has given a stronger voice to the HIE industry nationally,” she said.
SHIEC’s 60+ member HIE organizations aim to manage and provide for the secure digital exchange of data by medical, behavioral, and social service providers to improve the health of the communities they serve. Collectively, SHIEC members serve almost 75 percent of the U.S. population, according to officials.
Shaun T. Alfreds, CEO and executive director at HealthInfoNet, in Maine, said that he sees real value in working closely with HIE peers through SHIEC. “SHIEC presents us an opportunity to expand our relationships and partnerships as well as share ideas and innovations in a manner that supports our shared vision of a truly interoperable country, where data is used to improve individual and population health while helping our providers deliver the most effective patient-centric care services, Alfreds said.”
Earlier this summer, SHIEC announced that it was establishing a Social Determinants Committee, with the core aim to help SHIEC better focus on identifying and linking social determinants of health (SDOH) data and best practices between societal sectors across the country.
The committee will be led by Jill Eisenstein, the president and CEO of the New York State-based Rochester RHIO (regional health information organization), which is a qualified entity of the Statewide Health Information Network of New York (SHIN-NY).
