The Research Triangle Institute (RTI) International, in conjunction with the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, and the National Governor's Association awarded Arkansas a year-long contract to explore strategies to improve electronic health information exchange while ensuring privacy and security.  By bringing together a broad range of stakeholders, the project sought to:

1.  Develop consensus-based solutions to public and private barriers surrounding health information exchange.

2.  Identify and incorporate interoperability standards and protocols for improved exchange of health information. 

Ideally such efforts will pave the way for improved efficiencies, improved access to care, decreased medical errors, enhance continuity of care, and ultimately reduce escalating health care costs.

At the completion of this phase of the HISPC project, the Arkansas team received additional funding for an eight month period - two months to develop strategies to implement solutions directly associated with Privacy and Security aspects of health information exchange (HIE) and six months to implement the strategies developed in the two month period.

HISPC extension proposed and completed activities include:

• Propose a recommendation for a centralized and coordinated oversight structure for electronic privacy and security in the state.
• Create an Arkansas Health Information Privacy and Security Statutory Bench Book.
• Develop a uniform, plain language-based Arkansas HIPAA training course syllabus specifically tailored to privacy and security issues.
• Collaborate with other states to create a regional and/or national uniform consent form.

At the completion of this phase of the HISPC project, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) provided funding opportunities to collaborative state groups to address strategies around HIE across state borders.  The Arkansas HISPC along with 11 other states chose to address issues around consent and authorization in order for HIE to take place across state borders.  The project period is January 2008 trough December 2008.  During this time collaborators will evaluate barriers and facilitators to interstate HIE and develop strategies for addressing the barriers and enhancing the enabling factors.

RESOURCES

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality 2006 State Snapshots

The State Snapshots provide state-specific health care quality information including strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities for improvement.  The goal is to help state officials and their public- and private-sector partners better understand health care quality and disparities in their State.

http://statesnapshots.ahrq.gov/statesnapshots/index.jsp

Commonwealth Fund Health System Report Card

Developed to follow the National Scorecard on U.S. Health System Performance, published in 2006, the State Scorecard assesses state variation across key dimensions of health system performance: access, quality, avoidable hospital use and costs, equity, and healthy lives.  http://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/publications_show.htm?doc_id=494551

ACHI News Release

Arkansas Foundation for Medical Care

The Arkansas Foundation for Medical Care (AFMC) is a nonprofit corporation dedicated to the clinical evaluation and improvement of health care in Arkansas.

http://www.afmc.org/HTML/publications/annual_report.aspx

http://www.afmc.org/HTML/programs/statisticaldata/medicaid/hedis06/index.aspx