HIMSS Oregon Endorses State HIE

HITOC asked for HIMSS Oregon's endorsement regarding the federally funded statewide HIE Cooperative. After reviewing a brief of the grant, the HIMSS Oregon board approved and submitted a letter of support. In short, we see this as a great opportunity for enacting change in our state's health care system through the use of HIT. HIMSS Oregon is looking forward to working with state representatives in educating and advocating on initiatives like the HIE grant. From our letter:

HIMSS Oregon will support Oregon’s HIE planning and implementation efforts by partnering with OHPR/HITOC and through outreach, advocacy, participation in HITOC and its workgroups, and provide stakeholder input.

A couple lines of inquiry from the HIMSS Oregon board was 1) the governance model to be used by OHPR and HITOC, and 2) addressing interoperability was not included in the brief. We were satisfied with HITOC's commitment to gaining feedback from HIMSS and were shown that "interoperability" is specifically addressed in the formal grant application.

The HIMSS letter of support was hand delivered on September 29th to HITOC Director, Carol Robinson, by HIMSS President-Elect, Tom Finnerty. We're happy HIMSS Oregon was asked to be part of and support this important initiative.