DETROIT, Sept. 30, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The Southeast Michigan Beacon Community (SEMBC) and Michigan Health Information Network Shared Services (MiHIN) today announced an agreement establishing a robust path to the future for BeaconLink2Health, SEMBC’s Health Information Exchange (HIE). The agreement leverages numerous MiHIN services and solutions that expand BeaconLink2Health’s offerings and overall value to HIE participants and the greater southeast Michigan region including:
- Michigan Public Health Reporting – access to MiHIN’s technology and infrastructure supporting statewide and interstate electronic submission of public health data to the appropriate agencies, as necessary to meet Meaningful Use Stage 2 public health reporting requirements, including the Michigan Care Improvement Registry (MCIR), Michigan Disease Surveillance System (MDSS), and the Michigan Syndromic Surveillance System (MSSS).
- Admit/Discharge/Transfer Notifications (ADTs) – enhancements supporting BeaconLink2Health alignment with a statewide Transition of Care (ToC) initiative necessary to meet Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan Pay for Performance (P4P) requirements. This MiHIN technology supports an ADT Notification Service to automatically route and notify BeaconLink2Health providers (and care teams) of hospital admissions, discharges and transfers of their respective patients.
- DIRECT Technology – integration of MiHIN’s DIRECT secure email service to safely transport health data to support statewide initiatives, along with an ability to utilize the accompanying Health Provider Directory and Active Care Relationship Service™ shared with other HIEs. This technology routes ADTs provided by all state hospitals to appropriate state-designated HIEs, and then to appropriate providers and care teams for patients who have been admitted, discharged, or transferred from an acute care setting anywhere in the state.
Work on the development and integration of the MiHIN services began immediately.
“Our agreement with MiHIN enables BeaconLink2Health to deliver a powerful combination of practice and physician-level Health Information Technology and Exchange capabilities enabling better, more informed care, while at the same time facilitating population health management and reporting that is essential to physician organizations, health systems, Accountable Care Organizations, and Organized Systems of Care” said Terrisca Des Jardins, Director of the Southeast Michigan Beacon Community. “This agreement represents the ongoing development of local, state and federal relationships founded on a commitment to develop and deliver the right solutions to all levels of the health care delivery system.”
When the work is completed, BeaconLink2Health users will enjoy a broad range of MiHIN’s shared services combined with the capabilities of BeaconLink2Health’s clinical data repository and robust community of provider data sources including physician organizations, Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), labs, and hospital systems feeding the exchange.
“This type of collaboration demonstrates how working together enables us all to achieve more” said Tim Pletcher, Executive Director for MiHIN. “The idea of sharing our services is central to MiHIN’s efforts to establish and promote the use of secure electronic health information exchange, and we’re pleased to have the opportunity to work closely with SEMBC to provide our services with their BeaconLink2Health solution.”
About the Southeast Michigan Beacon Community
The Southeast Michigan Beacon Community (SEMBC) is one of 17 Beacon Communities established by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and administered by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC). As part of a larger healthcare revolution, the Southeast Michigan Beacon Community is committed to building and strengthening local health IT infrastructure and testing innovative approaches to make measureable improvements in health, care and cost. For more information, visit sembc.org.
About Michigan Health Information Network Shared Services (MiHIN)
MiHIN is dedicated to improving the healthcare experience and decreasing cost for Michigan’s people by supporting the statewide electronic exchange of health information and making valuable data available at the point of care. MiHIN is a public and private nonprofit collaboration between the State of Michigan, the Office of the National Coordinator, sub-state Health Information Exchanges, insurers, payers, providers and patients. For more information please visit www.mihin.org.
Southeast Michigan Beacon Community Contact: Scott Turske, 313-638-2885; sturske@semha.org
Michigan Health Information Network Shared Services Contact: KatyAnn Zimbelman, 517-336-5714; zimbelman@mihin.org