The New Mexico Health Information Collaborative (NMHIC) has selected Orion Health’s HIE platform to power its statewide health information exchange and expand the capabilities it offers to healthcare providers across New Mexico.

Officials say NMHIC will migrate from its current platform and transfer about one million master patient index (MPI) records to Orion Health HIE, offering participants access to an improved array of features, such as data analytics and business intelligence dashboards, disease management tools, public health reporting capabilities and telehealth integration.

NMHIC plans to implement the enhanced HIE with a phased approach, officials say, and expects to develop a long-term community health record for each patient, which will facilitate initiatives aimed at improving population health management and reducing the burden of chronic diseases throughout the state.

[Related: State CIOs eye enterprise IT, call for more federal flexibility]

Craig Hewitt, chief information officer for NMHIC, said in a statement: “With the enhanced features that Orion Health HIE offers, users will not only have access to the latest patient information, they’ll have the tools needed to drive improvements in care throughout New Mexico.”

As part of its implementaton, NMHIC will make use of the full Orion Health HIE solution, which is powered by Orion Health Rhapsody Integration Engine and includes Orion Health Clinical Data Repository and Clinical Portal, officials say. This will offer clinicians across New Mexico easy, secure access to the most up-to-date patient information.

NMHIC will also deploy Orion Health Direct Secure Messaging to extend the reach of the HIE and allow users with any ONC-compliant Direct secure messaging system to communicate with one another.

“By transitioning its HIE solution to Orion Health’s globally proven platform, NMHIC has underscored the importance of providing clinicians with the most powerful technology to enable the delivery of high quality care,” said Paul Viskovich, president, Orion Health North America, in a statement. “Orion Health is proud to be NMHIC’s strategic partner in such an important project, and we are excited to apply our expertise in implementing large-scale HIEs and managing diverse patient populations.”

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