eHealth Exchange and Virginia Health Information Announce QHIN Intentions

VIENNA, Va., Nov. 01, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- eHealth Exchange, one of the nation’s oldest and largest health information networks, today announced that Virginia Health Information (VHI), the Commonwealth’s non-profit health data organization, intends to participate in eHealth Exchange’s anticipated Qualified Health Information Network (QHIN) through its statewide Health Information Exchange (HIE) ConnectVirginia. eHealth Exchange is planning to undergo the application process to serve as a QHIN under the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT’s (ONC’s) Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement (TEFCA).

“eHealth Exchange has been a cornerstone of VHI’s ability to provide a secure method to query and retrieve patient data through ConnectVirginia,” said Kyle Russell, chief executive officer of VHI. “We know eHealth Exchange will be the right partner to help us move into this next step in nationwide data sharing as they are the largest health information network in the country and constantly working toward advancing interoperability and improving patient care.”

eHealth Exchange is ideally suited to be among the nation’s first QHINs and is preparing to be one of the first health information networks to submit the QHIN application. The network has 13 years of experience supporting large-scale health information exchange across a network of diverse participants, including 64 regional and state HIEs. This experience includes supporting more than 30 different electronic medical record technologies.

“The eHealth Exchange is thrilled to have another one of its members moving forward with TEFCA participation through our to-be-designated QHIN,” said Jay Nakashima, executive director of eHealth Exchange. “We continue to diligently prepare our application to be a QHIN on behalf of our members, such as VHI through ConnectVirginia. This will provide a seamless experience for the organizations coming forward with intentions to participate in this federally endorsed framework for patient data sharing.”

Learn more about eHealth Exchange’s plan to become a QHIN at https://ehealthexchange.org/what-we-do/tefca-and-ehealth-exchange/.

About the eHealth Exchange

The eHealth Exchange, a 501(c)3 non-profit, is among the oldest and largest health information networks in America and is most well-known as the principal way the federal government shares data between agencies and with the private sector. The eHealth Exchange, a network of networks, is the only network connecting healthcare providers to five federal agencies, 64 regional or state HIEs, 75 percent of all U.S. hospitals, and 85 percent of dialysis clinics running on more than 30 electronic health record (EHR) platforms. National interoperability is facilitated by one common trust agreement and a single set of APIs. Five federal agencies (Department of Veterans Affairs, Department of Defense, Indian Health Service (IHS), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and Social Security Administration) participate in the network to share patient information with private-sector healthcare partners as well as other agencies. The eHealth Exchange supports the secure exchange of the more than 12 billion patient record transactions annually. www.ehealthexchange.org / @ehealthexchange

About Virginia Health Information (VHI)

Virginia Health Information (VHI) is the Commonwealth’s non-profit health data organization with a core mission to collect, exchange and disseminate healthcare data in a way that is unbiased, relevant and transparent since 1993. VHI serves as the statewide Health Information Exchange (HIE) through the programs of ConnectVirginia and administers a wide variety of health data systems, notably including the Emergency Department Care Coordination (EDCC) Program, All-Payer Claims Database (APCD) and Hospital Discharge Database. VHI also publishes a variety of annual reports on topics of interest such as hospital and health plan quality, financial performance and a healthcare pricing comparison tool freely available on its website at www.vhi.org.