Health Information Exchange

District of Columbia Health Information Exchange (DC HIE) is the state designated health information exchange (HIE) serving the District of Columbia. DC HIE is one of fifty-six (56) state designated HIEs in the United States and its territories tasked with improving care coordination and lowering costs through the use of health information technology. In 2010 the District of Columbia Department of Health Care Finance (DHCF) was awarded a grant from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) to create DC HIE. DC HIE is staffed and managed by DHCF. DC HIE is governed by a twenty-one (21) member volunteer Policy Board appointed by the Mayor of the District of Columbia. The Board includes representatives from District-based hospitals and health systems, health centers and District of Columbia Government agencies. The Board meets the third Wednesday of every month at DHCF offices located at 899 N. Capitol Street, NE, 6th Floor, Washington, DC 20002. All meetings are open to the public and agendas are published one week in advance in the District of Columbia Register.   

Because DC HIE is state designated, it is not aligned exclusively with any hospital or health system or electronic health record (E.H.R.) platform. DC HIE services are open to all clinical providers. DC HIE plans to connect with the state designated HIEs in Maryland (CRISP) and Virginia (ConnectVirginia) in 2013. Connection may include the ability to send a Direct message between HIEs. A DC HIE and CRISP connection may also include the ability for District-based physicians to receive an alert when selected patients are admitted, discharged or transferred to acute care hospitals located in Maryland. Similarly, Maryland-based physicians would have the ability to receive an alert when selected patients are admitted, discharged or transferred to acute care hospitals located in the District. Because patients and providers routinely travel between state borders in the Washington area, collaboration between state designated HIEs to provide for the free flow of clinical information is strongly encouraged by ONC.
 

A Holistic View of Your Patient

DC HIE is your window into the complete patient record. DC HIE has plans to implement modules that will enable all detailed patient information to be available from a single sign-on view allowing more efficient patient management and better coordinated care. DC HIE services will assist clinicians in managing priorities, assessing up-to-date patient information and working with all other providers involved in patients’ care.

The service DC HIE has available now is Direct Secure Messaging (Direct). Direct is a an easy-to-use, fast and secure electronic communication service for clinical providers and others who regularly transmit and/or receive protected health information (PHI). Direct looks and operates like email, but with security features such as point-to-point encryption required for PHI. Direct is not a brand name or a company, Direct is a transmission standard developed by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC). DC HIE contracts with Orion Health for its Direct. Orion Health is one of the most widely deployed HIE companies in the world.

For more information on Direct, select this link: Direct Secure Messaging. To subscribe to Direct and the DC HIE select this link: Subscribe to DC HIE

To view and/or print a brochure about DC HIE services select here.

In the coming months DC HIE will offer modules that will allow for the following:
 
Ease of Access and Use
 
Reports

• Laboratory, pathology & radiology reports from all your patient’s caregivers delivered to your Direct inbox.
• Medication histories, allergy and past surgical information delivered to your Direct inbox.
• Specialist and primary care provider reports for a complete patient history.

Notifications

• Setup push notifications to receive alerts (ex: ADT) on patient’s information including new test results and discharge summaries directly into your E.H.R or to your mobile device. DC HIE is exploring partnerships with neighboring state HIEs to give providers an uninterrupted view of patient’s clinical history regardless of the state/District where patients present.
• Get patient discharge summaries & instructions in your Direct inbox.

Seamless Integration with E.H.Rs

• Access a unified patient record via your E.H.R. with the click of a button.
• Keep your patient in context without toggling between screens to access key clinical information.

Internet Access

• Secure access to your patients’ unified health records online via a secure web browser even if you don’t have access to an E.H.R.

Intuitive User Interface

• All relevant patient information is no more than three clicks away.
• Personalized worklists and screen layouts expedite time consuming.
• Easy navigation cues help to avoid losing context while drilling down for patient details.

Real Time Information

• Improve Clinical Workflow and Efficiencies
• Gain awareness of treatment plans and care pathways that your colleagues may have already established for common patients.
• Establish a care pathway and share task lists with other providers involved in the patient’s care.
• Avoid duplicate tests and prescription order entries.

 Enhance Peer to Peer Communication

• Create and send/receive a continuity of care (CCD) using Direct.

 Manage Disruptive Communication

• Minimize interruptions, including pharmacist call-ins etc. by using the “Notifications” feature and message inbox in DC HIE’s Clinical Portal.
• Personalize your clinician homepage to start your day and continually receive summary updates on patient information from disparate systems.

 Powerful Functionality

• Laboratory results with graphing and trending
• Graph laboratory results received from multiple sources over the course of a patient’s history enabling you to trend the results.
• Zoom in on areas of particular interest and drill down for further detail.

 Image Viewer

• Integrate with a third party  Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS) image viewer that is FDA-certified for diagnosis on the internet (provided you have the appropriate screen resolution).

 Timeline View

• Get a unified view of patient’ health events where encounters are linked to relevant reports & results.
• Directly link to actual documents, resulting in comprehensive  access to relevant patient information.

 Access DC HIE From Multiple Platforms

• DC HIE is accessible from Mac, PC and iPad platforms. DC HIE also supports access from multiple fixed and wireless devices and browsers including FireFox, Safari and Internet Explorer.

DC HIE Statement on Privacy and Security

DC HIE takes its responsibility in maintaining the privacy and security of PHI very seriously. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), among other federal and state laws, requires covered entities to protect the privacy and security of PHI. While DC HIE is not a covered entity, it is a business associate of its client health care providers. It is through this business associate relationship with its clients that HIPAA and other laws become applicable to DC HIE.

To fulfill its commitments as a business associate and recognizing that compliance with privacy laws is of the utmost importance to its clients and stakeholders, DC HIE and its technology vendor have implemented many policies and procedures as well as proactive, preventative security features. State-of-the-art systems and the latest technical standards are employed to secure records to the greatest degree possible and prevent access by unauthorized persons.