WVeHI Included in Federal Contract
Charleston, WV - The West Virginia e-Health Initiative (WVeHI), a coalition representing more than 40 organizations working together to advance health information technology adoption in the state, in November was named a partner in a project that will pave the way for a national system of electronic medical records and health information exchange.
WVeHI is as part of a consortium led by Accenture, an international corporation that in November received notice it was one of four organizations awarded a contract with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to develop a prototype for the Nationwide Health Information Network (NHIN) architecture.
“The Nationwide Health Information Network contracts will bring together technology developers with doctors and hospitals to create innovative state-of-the-art ideas for how health information can be securely shared,” HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt said in the Department’s news release. “This effort will help design an information network that will transform our health care system resulting in higher quality, lower costs, less hassle and better care for American consumers.”
Under the contract, Accenture and its partners will develop a prototype network for secure information sharing among hospitals, laboratories, pharmacies and physicians in health care markets in West Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee. The West Virginia test site includes Beckley and Southern West Virginia.
The Accenture consortium will also work with three other contract recipientsComputer Sciences Corporation (CSC), International Business Machines (IBM), and Northrop Grumannto ensure that information can move seamlessly between the networks the four are charged with developing under the contract. The goal is to establish a single infrastructure to share electronic health information.