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News Release
State Alliance for e-Health (State Alliance) Now UnderwayWashington, D.C. HHS announces a new opportunity for various state-level decision makers (governors, legislators, attorney generals, etc.) to collaborate in their efforts to address challenges in state-level interoperable health information exchange (HIE). HHS anticipates that this collaboration will remove barriers to HIE and improve overall quality of health care. HHS’ Office of the National Coordinator for Heath Information Technology (ONC) has entered a one year, $1.99 million dollar contract with the National Governors Association’s (NGA) Center for Best Practices to establish the State Alliance for e-Health. NGA will work with many different individuals, organizations, and associations that will have an interest in the work and products of the State Alliance. Such individuals and organizations include health information technology experts; industry experts; and representatives of consumers, state and Federal Governments, and other relevant organizations and associations. “Successful health information exchange cannot be accomplished at the federal level alone. By bringing states together to share successes and lessons learned in implementing solutions, we will accelerate adoption by avoiding the waste of reinventing the wheel,” Secretary Leavitt said. The State Alliance will serve as a forum in which state-level consensus-based solutions can be developed to address key challenges to interoperable HIE. This effort will also serve to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the various states’ health information technology (health IT) initiatives through the sharing of “lessons learned” from various interoperable HIE initiatives. “It is essential that the States and Federal government work in parallel to make interoperable HIE a reality so that patients receive high quality health care,” said Dr. Robert Kolodner, Interim National Coordinator for Health Information Technology. “The State Alliance will provide a unique forum in which states will be able to come together to collectively consider HIE issues they have been struggling with and to find solutions that will advance interoperable HIE within their communities.” The States play a critical role in the delivery of healthcare. There is a need for state-level interstate collaboration and consensus-building about the laws, policies and practices that govern potential approaches to interoperable HIE. This collaborative process will fuel creativity and partnerships and allow for the appropriate inputs of subject-matter experts. The State Alliance creates a vehicle through which states may come together to evaluate and possibly resolve:
For more information about this program and other ONC’s initiatives, visit: www.hhs.gov/healthit ### Note: All HHS press releases, fact sheets and other press materials are available at http://www.hhs.gov/news. Last revised: October 20, 2006 |
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