Brooklyn Health Information Exchange Selects InterSystems HealthShare

InterSystems Corporation today announced that the Brooklyn Health Information Exchange (BHIX) has selected the InterSystems HealthShare™ <http://www.intersystems.com/healthshare/index.html > software platform for multiple information exchange projects focused on electronic health record (EHR) interoperability. The agreement is valued at nearly $3 million for software, support, and services delivered over the next two years. 

The global leader in software for connected healthcare, InterSystems develops and markets innovative integration, database, and business intelligence products. HealthShare is used worldwide to enable the fastest creation of EHRs for regional and national health information exchange platforms. 

BHIX is a not-for-profit regional health information organization (RHIO) devoted to facilitating patient-centric care and promoting improved healthcare quality, affordability, and outcomes for New Yorkers. BHIX stakeholders currently include seven hospitals, 17 long-term care and home care providers, five health plans, several federally qualified health centers, as well as the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

Rigorous Evaluation Underlies HealthShare Selection

In 2008, BHIX was awarded over $12.7 million under the Health Care Efficiency and Affordability Law for New Yorkers (HEAL-NY) Phase V Grant Program for two projects that will help support more efficient and effective methods of sharing health information through advanced technology. The grants are in support of the state's strategy to ensure that clinical information is in the hands of clinicians and their patients to help guide medical decisions and to support the delivery of more coordinated, patient-centered care.

"We are committed to the vision of the Statewide Health Information Network of New York, (SHIN-NY) as articulated in the State's HEAL-NY Phase V program," said Irene Koch, BHIX Executive Director. "We assessed our current infrastructure, assessed our technology and business needs, and accordingly defined extensive, specific criteria for vendors to meet." These included providing reference implementations, detailed cost information, an interoperable technology solution using service-oriented, standards-based architectural components, and a proposed timeline for:

• Providing a platform that grants authorized clinicians and associated systems access to structured and relevant clinical data;
• Aggregating clinical data as a foundation to support analytical services such as public health and quality reporting; and
• Laying the foundation for BHIX to incorporate clinical decision support analytics and facilitate IT-enabled care management services directly into the clinical workflow.

Responding vendors were required to deliver solutions supporting specific use cases including:

• Interoperable EHRs for Medicaid;
• Connecting New Yorkers and Clinicians;
• Health Information Exchange (HIE) for Public Health; and
• Clinical Decision Support in an HIE Environment.

The next step in the evaluation process included developing and implementing a proof-of-concept initiative specified by BHIX. "We were very impressed by InterSystems' technical team, the HealthShare product, and the company's willingness to embrace the concepts of the SHIN-NY," said Koch.

Adherence to industry-accepted standards of the Integrating the HealthShare Enterprise (IHE) <http://www.ihe.net > consortium also contributed to the selection of InterSystems HealthShare, according to Koch. InterSystems HealthShare is in conformance with multiple IHE integration profiles, many of which have been recognized by the Health Information Technology Standards Panel (HITSP).

HealthShare is being used for multiple information exchange projects including the regional Long Island Patient Information eXchange (LIPIX) and a countrywide EHR initiative now being implemented in Sweden.

Serving Millions of Patients

"BHIX is focused on getting the right health information to the right place at any time across the entire continuum of care," said Pamela Brier, Chairman of BHIX and President of Maimonides Medical Center, an early champion of BHIX. "Our network includes providers who serve the diverse population of over 2.5 million Brooklyn residents, many of whom are elderly and struggle with chronic conditions. BHIX will play an active role in improving the quality and safety of care for our patients. We're pleased to be working with InterSystems to reach these goals."

"The combination of comprehensive functionality, rapid application development capabilities and adoption of IHE standards offered by HealthShare will enable InterSystems to provide the seamless information exchange needed to support the BHIX vision," said Paul Grabscheid, InterSystems Vice President of Strategic Planning. "As New York embraces a Service-Oriented Architecture to facilitate rapid evolution and seamless interoperability, we will partner with BHIX to help deliver the critical information needed to enable optimal care delivery to New York's healthcare consumers."