At Minnesota e-Health Summit 2011, ABILITY kicks off new DirectABILITY program, enabling secure communications between healthcare professionals
MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- ABILITY Network Inc.™, the nation’s largest and most secure web-based health network, announced today that it is offering physicians throughout Minnesota a secure, Direct-enabled address, free for the first year of use. ABILITY made the announcement in advance of the Minnesota e-Health Summit 2011, taking place June 15-16, 2011, in Brooklyn Park, Minn. ABILITY will be registering physicians interested in obtaining a Direct address onsite at the ABILITY booth (#6). Physicians who are unable to attend the conference may learn more about Direct and request an address here.
Designed to promote communication between healthcare professionals, ABILITY’s new program is called DirectABILITY, and is based on the open technology standards developed by The Direct Project, an initiative of the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) for Health Information Technology.
“DirectABILITY allows for secure communication of health information among healthcare participants who know and trust each other,” said John Feikema, President of ABILITY. “When a hospital, clinic or medical group signs up for DirectABILITY and wants to send health-related messages to any other Direct-enabled entity, they can do so easily, securely and in compliance with regulations such as HIPAA.”
ABILITY announced in February that it would invest up to $50 million over the next year to enable Direct, secure connectivity for all providers in the U.S. on the ABILITY network, and today’s announcement for Minnesota providers is one of the first steps to that goal, Feikema said.
Based in Minneapolis, ABILITY’s involvement with Minnesota health projects is well established. ABILITY was the first in the nation to demonstrate a live Direct-enabled transaction, sending an immunization update from Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis to the Minnesota State Department of Health. And, last week, ABILITY announced that the State of Minnesota Department of Health granted it the first-ever certification as a Health Data Intermediary (HDI), charged with providing the infrastructure to streamline the exchange of healthcare data for the benefit of patients, providers and payers in the state.
“We believe in what ONC is trying to do to help healthcare providers achieve meaningful use of technology, and we want to spur that goal by signing up physicians on DirectABILITY,” Feikema said.
During the Minnesota e-Health Summit, ABILITY will be signing up physicians for the free Direct addresses. For more information about ABILITY or DirectABILITY, please visit ABILITY’s booth (# 6) at the e-Health Summit, go to www.abilitynetwork.com or contact [email protected].
About ABILITY Network™
ABILITY works to save lives by facilitating information exchange and knowledge-sharing among every participant within the healthcare spectrum – hospitals, physician practices, home care providers, DMEs, and private and government payers – as well as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). In use for more than a decade in more than 3,000 hospitals across the country, ABILITY’s network supports healthcare decision makers in their quest to promote care coordination and collaboration, reduce record fragmentation, participate in new and emerging care models, and access the Direct Project network and state and community-based Health Information Exchanges (HIEs).
CONTACT:
KNB Communications
Emma Douglas, 203-504-8230 ext. 107
[email protected]
KEYWORDS: United States North America Minnesota
INDUSTRY KEYWORDS: Technology Data Management Internet Networks Practice Management Health Hospitals
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