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Arizona, Colorado HIEs merge
CORHIO and Health Current, based in Colorado and Arizona respectively, have formed a new regional organization. Called Contexture, the organization aims to advance interoperability across state lines, while also driving growth and innovation.
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Two health information exchanges from different states have joined together to form a regional organization with the aim of driving growth, innovation and sustainability.
Named Contexture, the organization was formed through an affiliation agreement between CORHIO and Health Current, which are HIEs based in Colorado and Arizona respectively. The newly combined organization includes nearly 200 employees and oversees the information needs of approximately 1,800 healthcare facilities.
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The Colorado Regional Health Information Organization and Health Current in Arizona have completed a merger they initiated last year, they announced Tuesday.
The two health information exchanges will now operate as a combined not-for-profit regional HIE dubbed Contexture. CORHIO and Health Current disclosed plans to merge in late 2020 and signed an affiliation agreement earlier this year. Contexture will serve roughly 1,800 healthcare organizations in Colorado and Arizona.
Bringing CORHIO and Health Current together will allow Contexture to more efficiently deliver their existing HIE services, according to the two organizations. The new company also will establish an innovation team dedicated to developing new data and analytics services. The innovation team will initially focus on creating new tools and services for state programs such as Medicaid and public health agencies.
A case study in HIE consolidation
A case study in HIE consolidation
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In 2015, Health Current counted 75 payers, providers and other organizations as part of its health information exchange. Today, the Arizona-based not-for-profit includes more than 850 healthcare groups and counting as part of its network.
Health Current’s more than tenfold growth over the past six years can be credited to a switch to a new technology platform that allowed it to scale its participant base and send real-time updates to providers, said CEO Melissa Kotrys, who also chairs the Strategic Health Information Exchange Collaborative, the national association of HIEs.
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The work of advancing health equity isn t new – but more seamless data sharing has unlocked more potential to use information and analytics to work toward addressing disparities in care.
Panelists at the WEDI Quest for Health Equity event on Wednesday noted that it s important to reinforce the relationship between public health and medicine as advocates move forward in this work. In terms of interoperability, technology [and] data, there may be a new conversation, but it s important for us to incorporate some of that work that s been going on for many decades, said Kenyetta Jackson, health equity manager, health solutions, at the American Medical Association.