Inside CHIME: Transforming Healthcare Through Information Exchange

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russ branzell 3.3.16 by Russell Branzell, FCHIME, CHCIO
CHIME President and CEO

CHIME and its members are taking big steps to increase information sharing and improve care delivery.

Every once in a while, it is good to take a step back and see the forest through the trees. As we wrap up a busy and exciting week at HIMSS16, now seems like the perfect time to do just that.

On Monday night, during her HIMSS16 keynote address, Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell recognized CHIME as one of several organizations that pledged to improve information exchange with consumers and across the healthcare system. This comes on the heels of CHIME participating February 25 in the White House Precision Medicine Initiative Summit. I was honored to represent CHIME and its members at the event where President Obama spoke eloquently about the power of information sharing.

As you know all too well, this is a critical juncture for healthcare. As we shift to a value-based environment, adopt population health management, extend care across the continuum and better engage with patients, we must tear down the barriers that inhibit the flow of information. That’s largely what the pledge with HHS is all about. CHIME committed to work with government and industry stakeholders to improve access to information, advance standards development and get to a state of true interoperability.

If you take a step back, you’ll see that CHIME already has several initiatives underway squarely aimed at these goals:

  • As part of the Precision Medicine Initiative Summit, CHIME and OpenNotes announced a partnership to enhance information sharing between patients and providers. OpenNotes is an initiative that urges health systems and clinicians to offer patients easy and secure access to the medical notes that are part of the electronic health record, but often are not available to patients. These notes contain important insights that can better guide patients in their care decisions. Through this partnership, CHIME will work to spread use of OpenNotes across the membership. Currently, five million patients have access to notes thanks to OpenNotes. The goal is to expand that to 50 million within three years. Click here and fill out the contact form to get engaged in OpenNotes.
  • We’ve been working with KLAS for the past couple of years to assess the state of interoperability and information exchange. Last year, KLAS released an important report that identified some common areas where providers and vendors see potential for accelerating interoperability. KLAS is embarking on part two of this research. The findings will further help us home in on ways to solve the interoperability puzzle.
  • Lastly, our efforts around patient identification are foundational to all of this work. We can greatly enhance information sharing by finding a solution that ensures accurate patient identification.

Viewed individually, these initiatives will help solve discrete problems facing the industry. Put them together and you see the tremendous potential we have to reshape the industry and transform care delivery.

More Inside CHIME Volume 1, No. 12: