Kansas Health Institute | Information For Policy Makers. Health for Kansans.

TOPEKA — Kansas could have a digital health information exchange in place as soon as this spring, officials said Wednesday.

The Kansas Health Information Network (KHIN) plans to submit sometime this week its application for certification to the Kansas Health Information Exchange, Inc. (KHIE), the quasi-public body that governs health information exchanges operations in the state.

"We have substantially completed (the application) and intend to provide it," to KHIE by the end of the week, said KHIN Executive Director Laura McCrary.

KHIN is one of two networks being developed in Kansas. The networks are intended to link doctors, specialists, hospitals, and regional cooperatives for sharing electronic patient health records.

Officials from the Missouri-based LACIE network, said they plan to apply to KHIE for certification early in January.

As part of its duties, KHIE is responsible for ensuring patient privacy and network security in the state. Health care providers who exchange patient information via a KHIE-approved network will be granted some immunity from lawsuits should they inadvertently breach patient privacy while doing so.

KHIE Board Chair Dr. Joe Davison of Wichita said that the timeline for reviewing applications for networks such as KHIN and LACIE hasn't been set, but that it likely would be done within the next two months.

"We're going to try to go through that as quickly as possible," Davison said.

Pieces coming together

The infrastructure for regulating the networks is still being developed by KHIE. But board members on Wednesday made several decisions that will help put it in place:

• They approved the purchase and implementation of computer systems needed to process opt-out forms from patients who elect to not have their health information exchanged over networks.

Before providers can exchange health information over the network they must alert patients and give them the chance to opt out. KHIE is charged with processing opt-out requests — via phone, internet or mail. KHIE Chief Executive Bill Wallace said KHIE will have that capability within two months.

• They finalized the application form for becoming an approved network, or "Approved Health Information Organization," (HIO).

A draft version of the application has been available for months, enabling officials at KHIN and LACIE to prepare much of the required information in advance.

• The board settled on a $2,000, non-refundable, network application fee.

The fee is intended "to discourage frivolous applications, not as a means to fund KHIE," Wallace said.

• They set Jan. 31 as the deadline for applying for network certification.

Wallace said the deadline would be posted on KHIE's website along with other information.

Board member Jerry Slaughter, executive director of the Kansas Medical Society, said the deadline provided adequate time for any applicants.

"That gives them 45 days...to submit an application," he said.

The Kansas Medical Society was a founding member of the collaborative that launched KHIN. The collaborative also included the Kansas Hospital Association and the state's two largest local medical societies.

• The board agreed its executive committee would serve as the temporary review panel for initial applications to become an approved HIO.

Applications received after the Jan. 31 deadline would be considered by a permanent review committee to be established by the board. The process for considering later applications likely would include a market analysis to determine whether the already approved networks were meeting the state's needs.

Public awareness

As electronic health records become more widely exchanged, health care delivery is expected to improve thanks to more efficiency, minimized clerical errors and avoided redundant tests on patients performed by multiple providers.

A public awareness campaign about electronic health information exchange is being developed by KHIE, said Helen Connors, chair of the board's education subcommittee.

Posters will be distributed to doctors' offices and elsewhere, radio and TV advertisements and fact sheets in several languages will be distributed around the community. Information about a patient's right to opt out also will be included in the materials, she said.

Connors said a request for proposal to communications firms to launch the awareness campaign would be issued by the end of January with the goal of having a company hired by the end of February.

Wichita exchange expands

Also on Wednesday, officials at the Wichita Health Information Exchange announced they had signed agreements with the Sedgwick County Health Department, GraceMed health clinic and West Wichita Family Practice, the state’s largest family medicine practice.

The Wichita exchange is a local network of providers and a subsidiary of KHIN.

“Exchanging health information is the most innovative advancement in medicine in my lifetime,” said Davison, the KHIE board chair and a doctor who practices with West Wichita Family Practice.