eHealth Exchange Recognized for Industry/Government Collaboration in Achieving Innovation
McLEAN, VA. (January 27, 2015) – Healtheway, a non-profit, public-private collaborative focused on advancing the implementation of interoperable health information exchange, today announced that the eHealth Exchange has been selected as a Top 30 finalist for the 2015 Igniting Innovation Awards, presented by the American Council for Technology – Industry Advisory Council (ACT-IAC) Institute for Innovation, the premier public-private partnership in the government IT community.
The awards program selected 30 finalists from a large pool of innovative government and industry solutions developed to address the government’s biggest IT challenges. An overall Igniting Innovation winner will be selected on February 5th at the Igniting Innovation Showcase and Award event at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington D.C.
Achieving a nationwide health information network can only occur through collaboration. It requires government and industry to work together and agree upon technology standards, rules for security and trust, common testing protocols, and legal agreements. The eHealth Exchange stands out for the scale and scope of its member collaboration. Not only did government and industry have to work together to create the framework for the eHealth Exchange, the work also involved state and regional agencies as well as a broad spectrum of technology providers and healthcare organizations across the full spectrum of healthcare.
“The eHealth Exchange is a public/private collaboration in the truest sense of the word,” said Mariann Yeager, Healtheway’s CEO. “Originally created by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT within HHS, the eHealth Exchange was formed through the collaboration of four federal agencies and dozens of private sector organizations. The goal was to allow healthcare organizations across the country to securely share electronic health records with each other using standards-based technologies. The eHealth Exchange was eventually transitioned to Healtheway to manage the growing network, and today, membership includes federal agencies, states, technology vendors and healthcare organizations.”
Current eHealth Exchange members include large provider networks, hospitals, pharmacies, regional health information exchanges and many federal agencies, representing 1/3 of all US hospitals, tens of thousands of medical groups, more than 5,000 pharmacies and 100 million patients.
“We are proud to recognize Healtheway for its dedication to advancing the mission of ACT-IAC by enabling government to improve efficiency and effectiveness through the eHealth Exchange,” said Chris Smith, Igniting Innovation Program Chair. “Igniting Innovation provides a spotlight for the great work done in government each and every day in carrying out the critically important missions of these agencies for our nation. The finalists are leading the way through innovation and collaboration to improve outcomes and to assist government to operate more efficiently and effectively on behalf of our citizens.”
The Top 30 finalists will exhibit their solutions at the Igniting Innovation Showcase and Award event on February 5th at the Ronald Reagan Building. The Top 8, selected via social media voting during the event, will deliver live presentations to a judging panel of government and industry professionals, as well as the entire showcase audience comprised of IT executives, influencers and media.
For more information and to register for the 2015 Igniting Innovation Showcase and Awards, see http://actiac.org/ignitinginnovation2015.
