Advance HIT Services Grant for Behavioral Health and LTPAC Communities - NHHIO

As part of our Advance HIT grant from the ONC, this project focuses on improving and expanding the use of Direct secure messaging to improve care coordination for patients within the Behavioral Health and Long-Term Post-Acute Care facilities in New Hampshire.  
Peer Learning Networks were established in each area for like-minded individuals collaborate on implementing Direct and how to expand the use.  Peer Learning Networks meet monthly to collaborate and develop practical solutions to HIE and lessons learned.  Each member has identified their top trading partners, all of which include their local hospitals’ ambulatory, inpatient and emergency departments.  Since NHHIO has already created HIE relationships with the majority of these identified trading partners and understands the complexity of their EHR systems capabilities and connection options, 
The BH PLN formed a Consent Committee to address operational and technical management concerns around patient consent and the release of information (ROI) in their electronic environments to ensure compliance with state laws and HIPAA.  This becomes especially important as organizations consider managing consent for 42 CFR Part 2, which deals with disclosure of substance abuse treatment, and an EHR vendor capabilities around segment data elements out of the transition of care summary that to which the patient has not provided consent.  Most EHRs have not yet been able to demonstrate this functionality successfully.  NHHIO works directly with ONC to leverage solutions around consent management demonstrated elsewhere in the country, like SAMHSA’s Consent2Share model and the DS4P Initiative. 
Regional Communities of Practice (CoP) have also been formed under this grant, in an effort to identify and mitigate gaps in care. The CoP’s were created to facilitate group discussions with multi-disciplinary practices and hospital organizations to address common interoperability issues.