Friday, November 22, 2024
11/22/2024
The Agency for Health Care Administration (Agency) and Florida stakeholders recognize that health information technology infrastructure development is a means to better health outcomes for all Floridians. Therefore, this project will implement a statewide health information exchange plan for Florida addressing goals related to developing health information exchange capacity and ensuring adequate oversight and also supporting and measuring the meaningful use of health information exchange to improve care coordination and population and public health and other health outcomes. The Agency will partner with a not-for-profit organization, a statewide Health Information Organization (HIO) that will be responsible for the implementation of a secure network for health information exchange and other information services required by the Agency. The Agency will contract with the HIO which will be responsible for providing the technical infrastructure and support necessary to implement statewide Health Information Exchange (HIE) through a competitive grant to be issued in 2010. The HIO will be responsible for sharing health information for purposes of patient care and public health consistent with the meaningful use requirements of the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC). The HIO must enable health information exchange among all acute care hospitals, federally qualified health centers, and physicians located in the state that employ certified health information technology or have systems or organizations that meet approved communications protocols as established by ONC for Health Information Technology (HIT). During the grant period, using American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funding, Florida will implement an Enterprise Master Patient Index (EMPI) and a Record Locator Service (RLS) to synchronize with Regional Health Information Organizations (RHIOs), individual providers, provider electronic health record (EHR) systems and other networks as applicable. The Agency proposes use of a standard provider participation agreement for health information exchange to be adopted by rule for voluntary use statewide. As proposed, the agreement would also reference the Agency???s universal patient authorization form for accessing or releasing an identifiable health record. The Agency has invited members of the Health Information Security and Privacy Collaboration (HISPC) Legal Work Group to assist in developing recommendations for a standard agreement. The Health Information Exchange Agreement recommended by the HISPC Inter-organizational Agreements Collaborative and the Data Use and Reciprocal Service Agreement (DURSA) will be reviewed for inclusion. The State will finalize and implement its Strategic and Operational Plans with the participation of the Health Information Exchange Coordinating Council (HIECC), key stakeholders, and other interested parties consistent with that allowed by the Florida open meeting requirements. The HIECC will meet as necessary to review and discuss various policy, technical and procedural issues required to ensure the effective exchange of health information and electronic health record adoption in Florida. Florida is committed to increasing utilization of health information technology and increasing our capacity for health information exchange at local, regional and state levels, following national guidelines for interoperability and meaningful use of such data that protects the privacy and security of personal health information. The Agency and HIECC will provide on-going oversight.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).
