Common Participation Agreement Leads N.Y. HIE Reforms
The New York eHealth Collaborative (NYeC) is launching a series of reform initiatives to implement recent amendments to the regulations governing the Statewide Health Information Network for New York (SHIN-NY) adopted by the state Department of Health (DOH) in July 2024.
As the state-designated entity (SDE) providing leadership and oversight to the SHIN-NY, NYeC, in partnership with DOH, is developing and executing operational, legal, and policy reform initiatives in support of the new regulations. The goal is to enhance the capabilities of the SHIN-NY and establish a framework for modernizing health information exchange throughout the state in further support of SHIN-NY participants and New York’s public health and Medicaid needs.
The first reform initiative to be announced, which will lay a foundation for those to follow, is the implementation of a uniform Statewide Common Participation Agreement (SCPA) – a new, common legal framework for all healthcare entities that participate in the SHIN-NY. The proposed SCPA will replace the numerous, different agreements which have historically governed participation in the SHIN-NY through the participating organization’s regional Qualified Entity (QE).
NYeC said a single, statewide SHIN-NY participation agreement will provide uniformity and reduce redundancy, enabling the SHIN-NY to provide seamless, consistent statewide services; improve efficiency; and ensure optimal data use, under a common set of privacy and security standards, for existing purposes as well as New York’s public health and Medicaid purposes.
Once implemented, all SHIN-NY QEs and participants will be required to enter into the new SCPA. Pending NYeC Board approval, NYeC anticipates releasing the proposed SCPA for a 30-day public comment period this month and initiating the signing process in early 2025.
NYeC said the adoption of the 2024 SHIN-NY regulatory reforms – the first since the original 2016 regulation – will also ensure more robust and representative stakeholder engagement through an expanded Statewide Collaboration Process (SCP), a single statewide form of patient consent and a statewide consent registry, modernization of state-funded services provided to SHIN-NY participants, improved efficiencies though leveraging of national networks, and more.
