Ohio health information exchange plan gets federal OK

Federal officials announced late last month that Ohio’s health information exchange plan has been approved, triggering the release of $13.8 million dollars in federal funds to start implementing the data exchange (“Ohio’s Health Information Exchange plan,” Ohio Health Information Partnership (OHIP) news release, Feb. 2, 2011).

According to the release, 3,058 physicians and other healthcare providers in Ohio have signed up in the past four months to participate in the exchange. OHIP and its seven regional partners have set a target of 6,000 physicians participating. OHIP’s Chief Information and Operating Officer Fred Richards said he hopes to fill the remaining 2,942 slots allotted by the federal ONC by summer 2011.

The adoption of Health Information Technology is an issue where HPIO has played a leadership role in Ohio since the Institute was founded in 2003. In fact, the creation of public-private non-profit OHIP was one the many suggestion that came out of HPIO’s 2006 publication “A Strategic Roadmap and Policy Options for the Effective Adoption of Health Information Technology and Exchange in Ohio.”