Maine's HealthInfoNet, the statewide health information exchange, has selected Santa Monica, Calif.-based Orion Health as its primary technology provider to help the HIE expand.

HealthInfoNet today involves six healthcare organizations and many of their affiliated hospitals and physician practices that annually care for more than half of Maine's residents.

Orion Health participated in the pilot phase of the implementation as a sub-contractor and after a re-evaluation of all vendors, HealtInfoNet awarded Orion a contract as its lead vendor for statewide deployment of the HIE.

HealthInfoNet Executive Director Devore Culver said Orion went through an exhaustive evaluation after beginning the pilot as HealthInfoNet critically reviewed the performance of existing and new HIE vendors.

"Orion Health proved its ability to deliver consistently during the pilot phase," Culver said. "Their track record of success in large health information exchanges in other countries and valuable contributions during the planning and testing process demonstrated they were the right choice to lead a successful full deployment."

The State of Maine has received $6.6 million from the federal government to help it achieve health information exchange across healthcare systems, within and between states, with $4.2 million going to HealthInfoNet over a four-year period.

HealthInfoNet's secure clinical database contains the medical information of approximately 60 percent of Maine's 1.3 million citizens, according to Culver. Caregivers with access to the secure HIE network have 24-hour access to clinical information on 750,000 patients, including drug allergies, prescriptions, medical conditions, and lab and test results. By 2015, HealthInfoNet plans to include all of the state's hospitals and 80 percent of Maine's physician practices in the project.

Before the development of the HealthInfoNet HIE, most patient-specific clinical information in Maine was stored in paper-based medical records or non-connected provider-specific electronic systems.

Orion Health President of North America Paul Viskovich said HealthInfoNet's decision to stick with Orion validates Orion Health's leadership in implementing successful large-scale health exchange projects.