Texas HIE Develops Clinically Integrated Network to Boost Care

HASA, Texas’ multi-regional health information exchange (HIE), and Aspen Physician Network, a Texas independent physician group, have joined forces to develop a clinically integrated network (CIN), aimed at reducing costs, increasing efficiencies, and boosting care for Aspen Physician Network patients.

Aspen Physician Network providers will utilize the HASA platform to access the CIN granting the network access to patient records and eventually driving both telehealth and remote patient monitoring efforts, the groups said.

A CIN is a collective health network that utilizes data analytics, quality measures, and protocols to boost patient care, lower costs, and provide market value. CINs also streamline patient data in real-time and also advance telehealth adoption and interoperability.

“Having a central patient record is critical for launching a CIN,” Danny Conaway, executive director of Aspen Physician Network, said in a statement. “Working with HASA will provide a single interface for coordinating and improving all levels of care, and will be key to our move into the value-based care arena.”

Utilizing HASA’s platform, Aspen Physician Network providers can access the HIE’s full capabilities, such as increased interoperability, access to patient lab results, and enhanced ability to leverage patient data from their current systems.

“We are excited to be playing a role in an effort that will help streamline and enhance the quality of care for physicians in the Aspen Physician Network,” said Phil Beckett, CEO of HASA. “This is a prime example of how HIEs can help to expand the capabilities of a provider network through effective health data sharing.”

The HIE will offer full patient data transparency with a Master Patient Index (MPI) and aggregation capabilities. The platform will also integrate billing data that aims to enable a full care continuum model, said HASA.

“The HASA partnership with Aspen will defragment the continuity of care, empowering our physicians to efficiently collaborate across specialties in the form of a high functioning CIN,” said Rick Snyder, MD, chairman of the Aspen Physician Network.

“The real winners will be the patients, whose portfolio of varied physician specialists can now function more as a single clinically connected team. This allows patients to efficiently leverage a wide-range of medical expertise, which will enhance the quality of care, and ultimately lower the overall costs,” Snyder concluded.

In December 2020 after receiving an ONC award, HASA, the Texas Health Services Authority (THSA), and Audacious Inquiry announced they would further invest in the Situational Awareness Network for Emergency Response (SANER) Project to further expand their collective COVID-19 pandemic efforts.

The HIEs received up to $500,000 from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act for the Strengthening the Technical Advancement and Readiness of Public Health Agencies via Health Information Exchange (STAR HIE Program) cooperative agreement program.

After receiving the award, the three entities worked together to develop the SANER Project. The project intends to develop an automated exchange of hospital capacity through APIs using HL7 Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) and streamline provider public health reporting in the state of Texas.

Just last year, HASA further increased its interoperability footprint when it joined the eHealth Exchange, the nation’s largest health information network.

Now connected to the nationwide HIE, HASA gained access to the largest secure health data sharing network in the country, including the Department of Defense, Department of Veteran Affairs, Social Security Administration, and over 50 percent of the nation’s HIEs.