OH HIE Partnership Focuses on Interoperability, Care Coordination

The Health Collaborative (THC) has announced a new collaboration with the Ohio Health Information Partnership (OHIP), also known as CliniSync, aimed at promoting interoperability and care coordination across the state.

Debbie Hayes, board chairwoman of THC, said the collaboration with OHIP is a way to address community health needs. The partnership, backed by health system CEOs, seeks to provide cost-effective services that enhance patient care affordability. Furthermore, it aims to improve care coordination, reduce inefficiencies, fill care gaps, and elevate patient experiences.

As of now, THC connects 70 hospitals and more than 18,000 healthcare providers across 14 counties, with nearly 15 million results delivered monthly.

With an increased focus on interconnectedness, the partnership aims to establish a statewide health information exchange and streamline patient data exchange across all 88 counties in Ohio.

THC will continue to access HIE data and offer community health insights through this strategic alliance. THC plans to transition its HIE customers to CliniSync by the end of 2023.

“The evolution of national interoperability is driving the need for HIEs to adapt and create new opportunities to provide value and improve patient care. Having one information exchange serving the entire state will not only facilitate broad access to clinical data in a secure, efficient, and cost-effective manner but support innovative models to improve health outcomes for all Ohioans,” Amy Andres, board chairwoman of Clinisync, said.

The partnership between THC and OHIP/Clinicsync aligns with a trend observed among many other HIEs. In recent years, several HIEs throughout the country have partnered to generate greater value in overlapping markets. These consolidations often free up funds and resources that HIEs can use to focus on other goals surrounding patient data exchange.

A recent example of such partnerships is the merger between two major players in New York's public health information exchange, Healthix and New York Care Information Gateway (NYCIG), which has expanded its reach across the state.

The combined organization, operating under the name of Healthix, covers New York City, Long Island, and the entire state, providing health data access to over 18,000 clinicians, according to a 2020 press release.

Other HIE partnerships, such as the one with HEALTHeLINK, the HIE for Western New York, have also led to improvements.

Through collaborations with organizations such as the New York State Department of Health and the New York eHealth Collaborative (NYeC), HEALTHeLINK has been able to leverage daily data feeds from the New York State Immunization Information System to send over 5.48 million COVID-19 vaccination alerts to participating providers in 2021.