GaHIN has completed the Hub Responder and Hub Initiator Testing and is now connected to the
eHealth Exchange
Hub. The two rounds of testing ensure GaHIN can respond and send (initiate) requests over the Hub.
The Hub was introduced by eHealth Exchange in 2019 as a new national data exchange technology platform. The Hub makes it dramatically easier for organizations to connect to each other using a “connect once” model to reach any other member of the network. This approach leads to faster access to correct patient records at a lower implementation cost.
Through the Hub, GaHIN is connected to the
new joint HIE
launched April 18, 2020, by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and U.S. Department of Defense (DOD). The VA has also now switched to an opt-out patient consent model.
Since its founding, GaHIN has used eHealth Exchange for its query-based service, Georgia ConnectedCare. Georgia ConnectedCare offers a robust patient search functionality allowing providers to make queries from within their EHR to quickly access patient health data from hospitals, physician practices, state health systems and more. There were more than 3.8 million Georgia ConnectedCare queries in 2019.
What is eHealth Exchange?
Active in all 50 states, the eHealth Exchange is the largest query-based, health information network in the country. It is the principal network that connects federal agencies and non-federal organizations, allowing them to work together to improve patient care and public health.
The eHealth Exchange network, which is working in 75 percent of all US hospitals, is leveraged by more than 30 electronic health record (EHR) technologies and 61 regional or state health information exchanges (HIEs). Four federal agencies (Centers for Medicaid and Medicare, Department of Defense, Department of Veteran Affairs, and Social Security Administration) participate in the network to share patient information with private sector partners as well as other agencies. In all, the eHealth Exchange supports secure exchange of the records of more than 120 million patients.
