Last week, the National Association of State Chief Information Officers released a report that evaluates various health IT projects, including health information exchanges, on a state-by-state basis, Government Technology reports.
The report examines major initiatives, the level of state government involvement and the individuals in charge of the 56 state-operated exchanges (Carlson, Modern Healthcare, 7/30).
According to the report, there has been a "tremendous flurry of activity" since last year's NASCIO report because of recent federal developments relating to health IT, including the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT's Cooperative Agreement Program on information exchange projects.
Many of the projects are funded at least in part by the 2009 economic stimulus package (Government Technology, 7/29).
The report found that:
- State-level officials are responsible for ensuring that information contained within an exchange meets requirements of the Nationwide Health Information Network; and
- CIOs play a crucial role in developing various networks (Modern Healthcare, 7/30).
If one state's residents expect high intervention from the government, then government agencies likely will lead the exchange. However, other states may allow not-for-profit groups to operate the exchanges (Government Technology, 7/29).