Description

This issue of Vital Signs, released on March 7, 2011, provides a strategic insight on the NHWIN Direct Project. This 15-page article discusses the Nationwide Health Information Exchange, a multi-agency government project designed to enable the exchange of health information among a variety of healthcare entities including physicians, hospitals, public health organizations, and government agencies. The article describes the overall goals of the project and focuses specifically on one component - the Direct Project - which is a recently launched initiative that specifically targets ambulatory physician practices. An explanation of how the Direct Project works is provided along with a discussion of opportunities and threats for both commercial technology vendors as well as state- run Health Information Exchange organizations, describes some pilot projects by state agencies as well as technology vendors, and profiles how one major HIE vendor, Medicity (part of Aetna) is approaching the changing HIE landscape.

Additionally, a company spotlight is provided for Medicity, a leading vendor of health information exchange technology. Reimbursement and regulatory news from the FDA is also provided for week of February 14, 2011.