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West Virginia Health Information Network (WVHIN) – SFT is working with the WVHIN Board of Directors to develop the next stage of their business plan, which includes an HIE pathway, alignment of multiple HIE/HIT initiatives, and a stakeholder outreach strategy. Elements of outreach include: provider participation, physician adoption, and a community roll out strategy. West Virginia is unique because of its mix of medium size and rural communities, the strength of its stakeholder base, and its many HIE/HIT initiatives. Additionally, SFT has recently reviewed and provided alternatives for their pilot implementation and procurement strategies including a summary analysis of vendor RFI results. It is engaged with the RFP process.

Michigan Health Information Network (MiHIN) – SFT is working with the MiHIN Resource Center to provide training and consulting support to the seven medical trading areas in Michigan receiving state funding grants to establish an HIE in each region. In this capacity, SFT has worked directly with the regions to address specific issues. Also, SFT developed a training program for Financial Sustainability for HIEs which included developing value propositions, doing ROI analyses, and developing innovative revenue models that use multiple fee structures to achieve sustainability. Michigan is notable because each medical trading is unique. Some areas are heavily rural, some are heavily urban, and some are a mix of urban/rural.

Colorado Regional Health Information Network (CORHIO) – CORHIO was one of six HIEs in the country to receive a multi-million dollar five-year grant from AHRQ in 2004 to develop an HIE. In anticipation of the end of the five-year grant period, SFT worked with CORHIO to develop a Stage 2 business plan that included building on its learnings from the grant period, expanding its reach state-wide, developing an HIE road map, strengthening its state-level convener/collaborator role, redefining its governance model, and developing a funding model to support the expansion of the HIE infrastructure.

Dallas County Medical Society (DCMS) – The Dallas County Medical Society is leading the effort in the Dallas-Fort Worth North Texas area to facilitate the creation of a Health Information Exchange. This is the 4th largest metro-plex in the country. SFT consultants were hired to engage potential participants and write the Business and Financial Plan for this effort. Engaged participants include over 7,500 physicians from DCMS among other physicians in surrounding medical societies; over 50 hospitals from five major health systems; the Hospital Council, and other providers and business groups.

Capital Area Health Alliance, Lansing, Michigan (CAHA) – SFT consultants worked with CAHA serving as the neutral party to negotiate the multi-stakeholder fee structure. In this role, SFT has worked with each of the stakeholders to build a value proposition and do an ROI analysis and then worked with them collectively to develop a revenue model that is fair and reasonable within a stakeholder group (e.g. health systems) and across stakeholder groups (health systems, physicians, payers, researchers, etc.). The newly formed Capital Area RHIO is in the implementation stages.

Delaware Health Information Network, Delaware (DHIN) – SFT consultants assisted the state of Delaware in developing a state-wide plan for a health information utility serving all of the three medical referral regions in the state. The effort involved a broad base of stakeholders including physicians, hospital systems, other providers, public health, health plans, consumers, state government, and academia. The SFT team provided targeted expertise in business strategy, functional requirements unique to an HIE, and stakeholder-based organizational structures to the overall planning team. In addition to business and functional support, the SFT Team drafted the Technical Assessment, provided Architectural Design Recommendations, and co-authored the Request for Proposal.

HealthLINC, Bloomington, Indiana – healthLINC is in an urban/rural setting. The SFT consulting team has assisted the HIE in developing a community-wide electronic strategy and business plan that serves physicians, other providers and the hospital system and is consistent with state-wide efforts for data exchange and interoperability. The first step has been for healthLINC to implement clinical messaging among physicians and to launch a not-for-profit multi-stakeholder governing body. healthLINC is notable because it was one of the first HIEs in the country to outsource its HIE infrastructure to another HIE (HealthBridge). In December 2008, it received a national award from eHealth Initiative along with HealthBridge for developing a small HIE that is both affordable and sustainable.

Collaborating Communities Health Information Exchange in Springfield, Ohio (CCHIE) – SFT assisted this community to quickly move from idea to implementation helping the community organize a physician-centric HIE with a multi-stakeholder community board, Unique features of this HIE are a multiple phase road map starting with clinical messaging; hiring an informaticist to more quickly improve cross-community processes of greatest importance to physicians, and outsourcing the technology infrastructure to Health Bridge to take advantage of economies of scale. Camilla Hull Brown served as the Interim Executive Director during CCHIE's formative period.

Michiana Health Information Network (MHIN) and the Provider Communities, South Bend, Indiana – As consultants to one of the earliest successful health information networks in the country, SFT has helped the physician community and other healthcare stakeholders develop a second stage plan to expand the information network to all providers and a physician migration plan to significantly increase the electronic adoption rate by the practices. The initiative included over 550 physicians, two hospital systems, the major laboratory, and MHIN.

Indiana State Department of Health, Local Public Health Departments, and Regenstrief Institute – SFT consultants facilitated a state-wide electronic health strategic planning process for public health involving Indiana State Department of Health (ISDH), six Indiana Public Health Departments and Regenstrief Institute. The purpose of the planning was to identify actions for increasing the two-way electronic exchange of data across the state. The plan addresses electronically collecting reportable data from healthcare providers, sending electronic alerts from public health to providers, and increasing electronic utilization by physician practices. The state-wide public health system utilizes the technology and research resources of Regenstrief Institute, a leader in Health Informatics and a lead institution in the formation and support of Indiana Health Information Exchange.

West Michigan Information Infrastructure in coordination with Spectrum Health, Grand Rapids, Michigan – The SFT consulting team worked with Spectrum Health to develop a business plan for a health information exchange serving the hospital system and participating physician practices. Elements of the plan include establishing EMR products for both large and small practices, clarifying role relations between the practices and hospital in the new entity, establishing guidelines for data ownership and usage, and developing a financially viable business model for both the hospital and the practices.

ICareConnect, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana (ICC) – Over a 3-year period, SFT was a prominent force in building grassroots support for a health information exchange, obtaining early stage funding, creating a community vision and strategy, and building commitment from four hospital systems and public health to adopt a community-wide electronic network linking hospital systems to physician practices, other providers, and public health. During that period, SFT staffed the Interim Executive Director and Community Project Lead positions. ICC merged into Indiana Health Information Exchange in 2004.

Indiana Health Information Exchange, Indianapolis, Indiana (IHIE) – IHIE is the joining of Regenstrief Institute’s Indiana Network for Patient Care, BioCrossroads Evidence-Based Medicine Initiative, and ICareConnect, Inc. Regenstrief Institute is a leading research institute in the nation for health informatics. Since formation, IHIE has become a model for other health information exchanges around the country. SFT has helped IHIE leadership work with the other health information networks in Indiana to develop strategies for the state-wide exchange of data within and across medical referral regions.

HealthBridge, Cincinnati, Ohio – HealthBridge, one of the original financially successful health information networks in the country, serves five hospital networks and over 3,000 physicians. SFT has worked with HealthBridge’s management and board of directors to build support within the five participating hospital systems to expand community-wide collaborative strategies that cannot be accomplished by any one system alone. Areas of interest include clinical processes, EMR adoption by practices, and health plan participation. HealthBridge was a participant in the initial National Health Information Network (NHIN and NHIN 2) funding to develop a national architecture prototype for a national network.

Maryland Health Care Commission (MHCC) – SFT consultants worked with MHCC to plan for and facilitate a series of focus groups with stakeholder groups (payers, hospitals, labs, and physicians) to identify key issues around privacy and security that must be addressed to ensure the success of an HIE. The results of the focus groups are input for a state-wide HIE strategy on privacy and security.

New Hampshire Citizens Health Initiative (NHCHI) – SFT consultants joined a consulting team to facilitate discussions with a multi-stakeholder group to develop recommendations around HIT and HIE for the Governor. Areas of interest were finding common ground between rural and urban areas; balancing needs of providers having few vs. many resources; addressing priorities of providers with high vs. low electronic adoption; and engaging the consumer, health plans, and employers in meaningful ways.

Pennsylvania HIE (PA-HIE) – SFT consultants worked with the PA-HIE Advisory Board to do a feasibility study of the largest provider, health plan, and employer institutions to determine group readiness to establish an HIE in the Harrisburg region. This has been followed by work with the physician community to identify physician leaders and to obtain physician buy-in for developing a business plan and participating in the HIE. These steps precede the actual development of the business plan and implementation.

Updated: 6/30/09