Healthix’s EHR Hub Model Initiative, which aimed to increase adoption in their region, surpassed the goals established for the program. Hub model integrations allow Healthix to connect with an EHR vendor through a single connection, eliminating the need to build individual interfaces with each practice. This enables faster, streamlined integrations, easy updates, and lower implementation costs. Healthix partnered with a number of widely used EHR vendors to provide incentives for the vendor’s practices to connect to Healthix.
Recognizing the benefits of health information exchange and real-time alerts on patient care, EHR vendors-partners, representing both medical and behavioral health practices across New York City and Long Island, took an active role in Healthix’s outreach and recruitment strategy. They co-hosted educational webinars for their clients which advanced the goals of the SHIN-NY and promoted the benefits of coordinated care for their patients. Additionally, Healthix worked with hub vendors to reach hundreds of practices through mailings, dashboard messaging, newsletters, and press releases—all designed to promote participation in the SHIN-NY and take advantage of incentives both from NYS DOH and discounts offered by the vendor. Incentives from the Data Exchange Incentive Program (DEIP) helped to attract many practices that could not achieve interoperability without some financial support.
The goal for the initiative was to recruit 60 existing HUB sites, and complete implementations for 105 sites. Healthix recruited 73 new sites (+22% of goal), and completed implementations for 111 sites (+6% of goal).
Additionally, new HUB recruitment surpassed the target of 25 practices; Healthix recruited 336 sites (+44% of goal). Healthix’s compliance, project management, and implementation teams worked together to bring these practices live within the targeted timeframe. As an added value, the expansion benefits all Healthix participants. By connecting more physician practices that will contribute valuable patient data to the SHIN-NY, providers can deliver better care and patients will receive timely, targeted interventions.