INDIANAPOLIS, Ind.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Indiana Health Information Exchange (IHIE) and Michiana Health Information Network (MHIN), two pioneering health information exchanges (HIEs) in the nation, will consolidate their services and operations to unify HIE services for the state of Indiana.
IHIE and MHIN have signed an agreement to consolidate on January 1, 2020.
“The evolution of national interoperability is driving the need for HIEs to adapt, but also creating opportunities for new HIE value propositions,” said John Kansky, President and CEO of the Indiana Health Information Exchange. “To deliver this new value, HIEs need to make significant investments and operate on a larger scale.”
Over the past decade, as the national landscape of health IT has evolved, there has been a growing trend of consolidating HIEs to produce stronger value in overlapping markets and more dollars and resources dedicated to innovations that benefit customers.
“MHIN and IHIE have been collaborating on projects over the past few years and work very well together. It was apparent that we could be better and stronger together and have bigger impact on supporting healthcare in Indiana,” said Kelly Hahaj, CEO of the Michiana Health Information Network.
“We are excited to continue the great work of the state’s two health information exchanges under one umbrella” said Jeff Costello, Chief Financial Officer of Beacon Health System and Board President of Michiana Health Information Network. “Having one information exchange for the entire State will facilitate broad access to clinical data in a safe, efficient, timely and cost effective manner.”
All MHIN employees will become IHIE employees at the beginning of the new year, uniting the two organizations. The growing Indiana Health Information Exchange will have offices in both Indianapolis and South Bend, Indiana.
Indiana’s third HIE, HealthLINC based in Bloomington, Indiana, is also part of this state-wide consolidation. HealthLINC began transitioning its customers to IHIE in mid-2019. The consolidation of the respective customer bases of Indiana’s three health information exchanges results in one HIE serving nearly all the state.
“The transition of HealthLINC to IHIE is making a positive difference in the healthcare experience for our patients and our clinicians,” said Brian Shockney, President, South Central Region, Indiana University Health. “Being able to easily transmit medical information among the care team, no matter where they are located, clearly contributes to better coordination of care and results.”
“This consolidation provides an important benefit for the quality and efficiency of delivering healthcare services,” said Dennis Murphy, President and CEO of Indiana University Health and Board President of the Indiana Health Information Exchange. “We need to continue to explore and support innovations like IHIE that positively impact health outcomes and the cost of care.”
About Indiana Health Information Exchange (IHIE)
IHIE was founded in 2004 as a non-profit health information exchange that enables hospitals, physicians, laboratories, payers, and other health service providers to avoid redundancy and deliver faster, more efficient, higher quality healthcare to patients in Indiana. Today, by making information available to approximately 50,000 healthcare providers in Indiana and neighboring states, we deliver services that make a real difference in health and healthcare.
About Michiana Health Information Network (MHIN)
As an Indiana-based nonprofit health information exchange (HIE) MHIN turns data into insights to improve health for our families, neighbors, and friends by connecting our healthcare community. MHIN is one of the oldest and most successful health information exchanges and healthcare information technology organizations in the United States. Since 1998, MHIN has been committed to providing secure, timely delivery of relevant clinical information through a number of technology and communication solutions that work to streamline secure access to data to improve quality and reduce costs.
