OHIP Seeks Health Information Exchange Vendor

The Ohio Health Information Partnership (OHIP) issued a Request for Proposal (RFP), September 16, to eight technology vendors, that were invited to propose technical solutions for supporting a statewide health information exchange (HIE).

The invited vendors were selected following a Request for Information (RFI) that concluded in April 2010 based on their ability to support the “breadth, depth and width”  of a substantially sized market.  Since that time, OHIP staff and stakeholders have been focused on completing the HIE State Plan that was submitted to the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) in July.  The latter document will be made public once it is approved by ONC.

The purpose of the RFP is to identify a vendor whose solution aligns best with OHIP’s HIE State Plan strategy and sustainability model.  Vendors will be evaluated on their ability to address OHIP’s priorities while demonstrating their strategic and technical capacity to be flexible and adaptable to change.

A Health Information Exchange (HIE) involves the transfer of healthcare information electronically across organizations within a region, community or hospital system. The goal of HIE is to facilitate access to and retrieval of clinical data among disparate health care systems to provide safer, more timely, efficient, effective, equitable, patient-centered care. An Ohio HIE will also assist public health authorities in collecting information on the health status of Ohioans and help health care professionals avoid duplicate tests, reduce costs and facilitate retrieval of patient information.

OHIP is a non-profit entity, funded through a combination of state and federal grants, including the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, to: (1) develop a statewide health information exchange for Ohio to allow hospitals and physicians to communicate electronically; and (2) to assist Ohio physicians and other providers with the implementation and adoption of electronic health records. 

Founding OHIP members include the Ohio Osteopathic Association, the Ohio Department of Insurance, the Ohio Hospital Association, BioOhio, and the Ohio State Medical Association.