Funds for $4.5 million from ARRA are going to HealthInfoNet (HIN), Maine’s independent nonprofit statewide HIE. The funds will be used to help transition HIN later this year from a two year demonstration phase and move toward statewide implementation with full statewide implementation scheduled for the second half of 2010.
HIN’s secure clinical database now contains approximately half of Maine’s entire population of 1.3 million. This means that clinicians participating in HIN’s 2 year demonstration phase now have 24/7 access on a statewide basis.
HIN expects to add up to seven more hospitals to the statewide HIE over the next year bringing the total number of participating hospitals to 22. By 2015, HIN plans to include all of the state’s hospitals and approximately 80 percent of Maine’s physician practices. Over time, HIN will include small and rural unaffiliated providers, long term care, home health, behavioral health, and others.
Despite a substantial budget shortfall, the State of Maine has included $1.7 million in the 2010-2011 budget to enable HIN to go live this summer and to position Maine for federal matching funds that are expected to be available. Some $8 million has been raised so far to build HIN and another $12 million is needed to build out the statewide infrastructure. It is estimated that it will cost approximately $6 million to operate HIN on an annual basis.
Organized as a public-private partnership, HIN received funding support from a wide range of private foundations, provider organizations, and state and federal government agencies. The Board of Directors includes physicians, hospital leaders, consumers, employers, government officials, insurance executives and others.
HIN has retained 3M Health Information Systems and Orion Health to build and operate the statewide HIE. In addition, DrFirst, Inc has been retained to provide coordination in automating electronic prescribing services and to provide access to medication history information.
For more information email HIN Executive Director Devore Culver at dculver@hinfonet.org or Project Consultant Jim Harnar at jharnar@maine.rr.com.
