ID Health Information Exchange Data Migration Set to Boost Interoperability

Idaho Health Data Exchange (IHDE), Idaho’s designated statewide health information exchange (HIE), is migrating its legacy data to a next generation, scalable platform in efforts to boost interoperability and care coordination.

IHDE will migrate all its legacy data, including interface connections and historical data, to the Amadeus platform from health IT vendor Orion Health.

“In 2020, IHDE embarked on a major overhaul and revitalization of its business model, technology stack and services offering,” Hans Kastensmith, IHDE executive director, said in a public statement.  “The majority of this work has been completed and is now being enhanced.”

“IHDE made the decision to move to the Orion Health Amadeus platform to support our goal of improving the quality and coordination of healthcare in Idaho,” Kastensmith continued. “The migration to a multi-tenanted shared platform will offer advanced capabilities and greater value to our participants across the state, helping improve population health and creating an enhanced partnership with Orion Health.”

The data migration is set to increase the overall value of HIE participation by enhancing interoperability across the state. Greater access to patient health data may also streamline care coordination between settings.

The new HIE platform can securely capture, aggregate, and store all kinds of health data in one place, IHDE said. The scalable platform can also support population health management initiatives and value-based care models.

Additionally, the new platform supports FHIR (Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources) APIs. Third-party developers will be able to access IHDE’s rich data and build specialty applications on the platform to boost innovation.

To support the migration, Orion Health will provide dedicated resources to perform technical onboarding of new data providers and their interfaces.

The partnership will also deploy several new modules to expand capabilities within the HIE, including: Orion Health Communicate, Orion Health Coordinate, Orion Health Medicines Viewer, and Orion Health Performance Metrics Monitoring.

At the end of last year, IHDE announced the implementation of a remote patient monitoring (RPM) platform from Connect America to boost telehealth services and remote patient care.

Prior to COVID-19, telehealth utilization was tepid. However, HIEs, EHR vendors, and health IT organizations have helped curb the pandemic by making telehealth a mainstream option.

Patients may see continued benefit from having telehealth as an option as it allows for more convenient care options for those who live far away from their provider.

"The integration between Connect America RPM and IHDE will help facilitate public health mitigation strategies by creating a safer option for healthcare personnel and patients," said Kastensmith in a press release at the time of the announcement.

"Their web-based platform provides numerous entry points to monitor, educate, and engage patients and its proprietary predictive analytics can identify and stratify risk factors,” Kastensmith continued. “We are excited about our selection and look forward to working with Connect America to bring much-needed telehealth opportunities to IHDE members.”