The spotlight is on health data exchange in Indiana as the Central Indiana Beacon Community, led by the Indiana Health Information Exchange (IHIE), hosts a meeting Monday to share the experiences of running the nation's largest and oldest health information exchange in the country. Indiana health IT leaders are calling the 'deep dive' meeting the first - and only - such meeting of the Beacon Communities.

[Read about the government's announcement of Beacon Community grants: Health IT 'Beacon Communities' awarded $220 million.]

The Indiana Health Information Exchange, Inc. (IHIE) is a non-profit corporation formed in 2004 by the Regenstrief Institute, private hospitals, local and state health departments, BioCrossroads and other prominent organizations in Indiana. IHIE is the nation's largest health information exchange organization, delivering clinical information to providers securely and efficiently, along with providing information to assist providers as they care for patients needing preventive care and management of chronic diseases. The IHIE network includes 19,000 physicians and more than 80 hospitals and other healthcare organizations.

[See: Indiana leaders urge Congress to see their data exchange as model.]

An IHIE-led collaboration (Central Indiana Beacon Community) is one of 17 national cooperatives to help advance healthcare quality and efficiency. This collaboration will help communities in Indiana identify opportunities to measurably improve patient care.

Funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the Beacon Community Cooperative Agreement Program helps communities at the cutting edge of electronic health record adoption and secure health information exchange attain a new level of health care quality and efficiency.
 
The Central Indiana Beacon Community received $16 million for this effort. The funding will help strengthen an existing platform that supports care for diabetics and ensures all Hoosiers are getting needed cancer screenings.

The meeting is being held with support from the Milbank Memorial Fund. Participants include representatives from the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services' Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT, the Milbank Memorial Fund, the Indiana Health Information Exchange, the Regenstrief Institute, national Beacon Communities, and other invited guests from national programs that align with the objectives of the Beacon Community Program.