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The Office of e-Health Initiatives will support the efforts of the Health Information Partnership for Tennessee (HIP TN), the new, not-for-profit entity designed to bring together the state's local, regional and state electronic health information initiatives and resources into a collaborative partnership to improve access to health information.
Melissa Hargiss, director of the Office of e-Health Initiatives, will serve HIP TN in an ex-officio capacity, and Commissioner Dave Goetz, Tennessee Department of Finance and Administration, joins the partnership's board of directors. HIP TN's board will include 10 members from the private sector and two representatives of the public sector.
"HIP TN wants to advance the exchange of health information between providers to make sure patients receive well-coordinated care, thereby improving quality and cost efficiencies, no matter the setting or level of care," Hargiss said in a statement. "One of the key objectives on which HIP TN will focus is security and privacy for consumers and health care providers, making sure a patient's confidential information is protected and shared with providers only in a secure manner."
HIP TN representatives met recently in Nashville to finalize board of director members and to organize the various workgroups that will work with Tennessee's Department of Finance and Administration and Office of e-Health Initiatives in developing a statewide, strategic health information exchange plan.
When finalized, HIP TN will approve the plan the Office of e-Health will submit to the U.S. Health and Human Service Department's Office of National Coordinator (ONC), the federal agency with oversight of the health information technology portions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). The plan will be Tennessee's application to draw Federal stimulus funds for health information exchange.
HIP TN's work groups will help with the plan's components of governance, clinical objectives, privacy and security, technical architecture, health information technology adoption, consumer education, evaluation and financing.
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