Value, Innovation, and Collaboration: Priorities for 2024
We pride ourselves on being a customer-driven organization, lining up our priorities with those of our participants, partners, and a stakeholders to deliver value. As we look to the start of a new year, we’re focusing on joint efforts with state and regional partners to advance shared goals, supporting public health initiatives and local health departments, transitioning to a data-centric system and operating model, continuing to enhance our customer engagement and services operations, and maintaining our strong position in security, compliance, and accreditation.
Collaboration with Statewide Partners
As part of the Statewide Health Information Network for New York (SHIN-NY), HealtheConnections and the other five regional health information organizations (RHIOs) are committed to advancing New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) priorities. We’re working together to evaluate and establish opportunities for shared infrastructure and collaborate on aggregation and standardization of data, with a strong focus on supporting interoperability capabilities and NYS public health initiatives.
With a growing emphasis on using health related social needs (HRSN) data to address health disparities, collaborative efforts are already under way in support of the Medicaid 1115 Waiver to capture and distribute these data with a newly developed SHIN-NY Data Lake. We’re participating on cross-functional, statewide workgroups to create the shared infrastructure, standards, and associated processes that will make the sharing of HRSN data through the SHIN-NY Data Lake possible.
Prioritizing the Needs of Local Health Departments
Local health departments (LHDs) have long been active members of the HealtheConnections network. Community-wide HIE data can be used to support public health surveillance, outbreak investigations, medical examiner determinations, emergency preparedness, and more. Our team is prioritizing making healthcare data more easily reportable and more complete, developing unique reports to address specific needs, and into 2024, we’re continuing that work by soliciting feedback and organizing discussion sessions with LHDs to pursue more collaborative efforts.
You may have heard of Social Determinants of Health (SDoH), but what are Health Related Social Needs (HRSN)? How are they different? Learn more from this brief overview below.
Innovation and Agility in Services, Systems and Operations
Health information needs and requirements for data are constantly morphing to meet new demands. We’re staying a step ahead by re-imagining our HIE structure and systems to set a new standard for reliability, efficiency, and value.
Our vision upholds data as the core asset, independent of any single application or service. We’re building a new infrastructure based on this data-centric approach that leverages the most up-to-date technology and design for more efficient, faster, and more flexible offerings. Picture the services that our participants know today, but better. The project is taking shape, and we are excited to provide updates on our progress as we approach the launch in the summer of 2024.
At the same time, we have adopted a team-focused methodology for customer engagement and support to enhance responsiveness and agility. Continued shifts in this direction will allow us to be more accessible when customers need us, whether it’s answering questions about using HIE services to deliver exceptional care or offering expertise and health data solutions.
Maintaining Business Excellence & Trust through Compliance, Security, and Accreditations
HealtheConnections maintains strict operational standards and adheres to various accreditation measures, such as HITRUST and SHIN-NY requirements. These certifications are a source of pride for us, earned year after year, demonstrating the strong security and other compliance practices expected from a leading regional HIE.
As with all areas of our operations, we are continually refining our approaches to meet changing needs. This includes a commitment to ensuring HIE tools and services are accessible to all of our users, a key effort currently in progress with updates and enhancements that will meet Section 508 accessibility standards.
Want to learn more about what Section 508 standards are? You can read through this guide put together by the U.S Department of Health & Human Services.
HealtheConnections is a supportive partner in the constantly evolving world of health and care delivery.
The effective use of health data will continue to grow alongside new research, developments in clinical care and public health, and innovative analytic tools. With more than 1,600 participating organizations, 650 data sources, and records on more than 13 million patients, HealtheConnections is perfectly positioned to use this information in conjunction with its partners to meet these challenges and advance health in this changing landscape.
We’re a proud partner with thousands of clinical offices, public health partners, and community-based organizations participating in our HIE network. To connect with us or explore new ways to work together, contact support@healtheconnections.org.
