Question

The State HIE Cooperative Agreement Program grantees are required to monitor and track statewide implementation, adoption, and transactions of exchange mechanisms that they implement directly or enable through funding, technical assistance, marketplaces, etc. to support the meaningful use of health information technology. Research the current state of HIE across the United States through the State HIE Program Measures Dashboard and provide a response summarizing your findings related to Hawaii. Provide a summary of your findings and any insights you have gained in the review of the information.

Answer 1

State Health Information Exchange Cooperative Agreement Program
In March 2010, ONC completed the announcement of State Health Information (State HIE) Exchange Cooperative Agreement Program awardees. In total, 56 states, eligible territories, and qualified State Designated Entities (SDE) received awards.

The State HIE Cooperative Agreement Program funds states’ efforts to rapidly build capacity for exchanging health information across the health care system both within and across states. Awardees are responsible for increasing connectivity and enabling patient-centric information flow to improve the quality and efficiency of care. Key to this is the continual evolution and advancement of necessary governance, policies, technical services, business operations, and financing mechanisms for HIE over each state, territory, and SDE’s four-year performance period. This program is building on existing efforts to advance regional and state-level health information exchange while moving toward nationwide interoperability.

On January 27, 2011, an additional $16 million was made available to states through ONC’s new Challenge Grants program. This program will provide funding to states to encourage breakthrough innovations for health information exchange that can be leveraged widely to support nationwide health information exchange and interoperability. The HIE Challenge Grant Program is providing 10 awards between $1 and $2 million to State HIE Cooperative Agreement Program grantees to develop innovative and scalable solutions in five key areas, including:

* Create and implement up-to-date privacy and security requirements for HIE

* Coordinate with Medicaid and state public health programs to establish an integrated approach

* Monitor and track meaningful use HIE capabilities in their state
* Set strategy to meet gaps in HIE capabilities
* Ensure consistency with national standards.