MI, WI advance health information exchange

Some might call them RHIOs. Others might say collaboration among competitors. Either way, large, multi-stakeholder groups in two Midwest states are coming together to find ways to share healthcare data. 

Healthcare organizations in 11 central Michigan counties are making progress with a $720,000 state planning grant toward building a regional clinical messaging system, according to a Tri-Cities Business Review (Saginaw, Bay City, Midland, MI) story. But the program, called the Michigan Health Information Network, is working feverishly toward a plan so they can apply for implementation funding when the current money runs out on Sept. 30. With major corporations like General Motors, Dow Chemical and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan participating, it would seem like rounding up the estimated $2 million in annual operating costs would not be too difficult, right? 

On the other side of Lake Michigan, Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle made the announcement that Milwaukee-based Ministry Health Care would use the CattailsMD EHR, developed in the state by Marshfield Clinic, and would team with Marshfield to create the largest patient data repository in Wisconsin. And in a further action to promote data exchange in America's Dairyland, the Wisconsin Health Information Organization picked Ingenix to build a statewide electronic warehouse of claims data. 

For more:
- read the report from Tri-Cities Business Review (MI)
- check out the WKOW-TV (Madison, WI) story
- see the press release from Ingenix