Tennessee Communities Sought to Participate in Pilot Program
<0> Seigenthaler Public RelationsBen Palos, 615-327-7999 </0>
A new program, called the Tennessee Direct Project, is being launched to create a comprehensive infrastructure that allows healthcare providers to securely share electronic health records within the state. Qsource, a Tennessee-based nonprofit healthcare quality improvement and information technology company, will spearhead the program and is seeking communities to participate in the initial phase.
The Tennessee Direct Project will encourage early adoption of Direct, a simple, affordable and secure service that transports health information. Qsource will partner on the project with leading technology provider ICA, which is recognized by DirectTrust.org for complying with federal security standards for Direct health data transport.
DirectTrust.org, a national non-profit industry group dedicated to secure health information exchange, recently launched a pilot program to foster widespread public confidence in vendors like ICA that support Direct health information exchange.
“The healthcare industry demands greater efficiency and cost reduction, and sharing health information is needed to operate in this new environment,” said Dawn Fitzgerald, chief executive officer of Qsource. “As a vendor recognized by DirectTrust.org, we’re confident ICA is a qualified partner that will provide the technology needed to enable secure exchange of health data and help transform the healthcare experience with the Tennessee Direct Project.”
Initially, Qsource will start the Tennessee Direct Project with pilot programs in several communities within the state. The pilot communities will be engaged and participating in the Tennessee Direct Project by early 2013. These communities are still being determined, and those who are interested in being considered as a pilot community should contact Qsource at (866)-514-8595.
“Sharing health information securely is a challenge, but Direct is a strong start toward establishing an efficient process that maintains accurate health records and quality healthcare for all Tennesseans,” said Gary Zegiestowsky, chief executive officer at ICA. “We expect the technology to evolve over time so clinical communications becomes increasingly effective. In the meantime, ICA believes the Tennessee Direct Project will deliver immediate value and return on investment to those who participate.”
Direct meets requirements of Stage 2 of meaningful use, meaning it provides access to various healthcare data sources and offers data exchange at transitions of care.
For the pilot initiative, Qsource will oversee the Tennessee Direct Project while ICA will be one of the initial DirectTrust.org recognized vendors providing the technological capabilities enabling Direct health information exchange. Eventually, Tennessee intends to create a marketplace of health information services providers (HISPs) from which healthcare providers can choose. The vendors within this marketplace will be verified by the state as compliant with national secure messaging requirements.
Qsource is a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) healthcare quality improvement and information technology consultancy headquartered in Tennessee since 1973. We provide a wide range of expert services to assist organizations and providers in improving healthcare quality and delivery with better patient outcomes and cost savings. Qsource services are offered through our Divisions/Subsidiaries/Affiliates, Tools & Resources, and associates staffing offices in Memphis, Nashville and Knoxville, Tenn., as well as Little Rock, Ark. For more information, please visit .
Originating from clinical informatics solutions developed within Vanderbilt Medical Center, ICA’s state-of-the-art CareAlign® interoperability and informatics platform addresses and solves data and communication challenges for many healthcare entities, including hospitals, IPAs, IDNs, HIEs, payers and others. CareAlign delivers a flexible architecture to connect, collect, consume and intelligently distribute data through Direct, IHE, HL7, and custom methods for use in EHRs, third party applications, and ICA’s applications. CareAlign unites a wide range of information supporting analytics associated with population health management, transitions of care communication, re-admissions reduction, meaningful use requirements and PCMH/ACO operations. Visit , and follow us on , , , and .