BINGHAMTON, N.Y. — Southern Tier HealthLink (STHL) on Monday announced plans to merge with Taconic Health Information Network and Community (THINC) into a single “qualified entity” called HealthlinkNY.
A qualified entity (QE) was previously referred to as a regional health-information organization (RHIO), according a news release the organizations issued.
They’re calling the action a “step toward unified exchange of health information in New York,” according to the release.
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STHL is a nonprofit New York regional health-information organization (NY RHIO) that says it uses technology to bring together Central New York health-care providers and consumers to “improve health-care quality, access, and safety while reducing costs.”
Binghamton–based United Health Services, a regional health-care system; Lourdes Hospital of Binghamton; and other stakeholders established STHL in 2005.
Fishkill, N.Y.–based THINC says it works to advance the use of health-information technology through the “sponsorship of a secure health-information exchange network, the adoption and use of interoperable EHRs [electronic health records] and the implementation of population health-improvement activities,” according to the news release.
The merged organization will span 11 counties across the Southern Tier, Catskills, and Hudson Valley.
The New York State Attorney General and the Supreme Court of New York will need to review and approve the merger before it takes effect.
About HealthlinkNY
STHL has built a health-information exchange in its region and will expand the technology into the Hudson Valley as part of HealthlinkNY. THINC has established a “collaborative” model for “primary-care transformation and population-health improvement,” which will expand to include the Southern Tier with HealthlinkNY, according to the news release.
The new collaborative offers “secure” electronic access to statewide health information for participating providers and patients in the region, along with information and tools to help in “health transformation, the organizations contend.
As a QE of health information-technology, HealthlinkNY will maintain patients’ electronic health records from participating health-care organizations and provider practices across the region, consolidating them into more “centralized and consolidated” records, the organizations said.
“This merger will harness our individual strengths and combine them to transform and improve healthcare from the Southern Tier through the Hudson Valley,” Christina Galanis, executive director of Southern Tier HealthLink, said in the news release. “We are excited to consolidate our efforts and services with THINC to expand our technical and analytical expertise in both regions, support emerging population health reform, and operate more efficiently.”
A combined, 20-person board of directors will govern the new HealthlinkNY organization, the organizations said.
The merger occurs as the state is beginning to interconnect the QEs as part of the Statewide Health Information Network of New York (SHIN-NY), a network that enables the exchange of electronic-health records across the state.
New York is the “first large state” to create a public utility network of its kind, which funding included in the current state budget is supporting, the release stated.
Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com
