Southern Tier HealthLink plans to merge with smaller downstate organization

BINGHAMTON — Southern Tier HealthLink (STHL) 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 to a news release the organizations issued on Nov. 17.

STHL and THINC are calling the merger a “step toward unified exchange of health information in New York.” 

The organizations had been collaborating on projects and consulting services and eventually thought it would be a “great idea” to merge, says Christina Galanis, executive director of Southern Tier HealthLink.

“So we got our heads together, looked at budgets and resources, and, as you would imagine with most mergers, two companies can often find economies of scale by combining activities under one umbrella,” says Galanis.

The organizations started preliminary discussions in November 2013, she says.

Galanis, who will serve as president and CEO of the merged organization, spoke with the Business Journal News Network on Dec. 1. 

Galanis has been aware of THINC since 2005 because both organizations started under the state’s HEAL grant program, which ended in 2012.

STHL was formed as an entity following the 2005 application for HEAL I (Health Care Efficiency and Affordability Law) grant funding.

Of the 13 RHIOs that started with state funding in 2005, some organizations serving the New York City area have also merged, reducing the number to eight, says Galanis.

STHL is a nonprofit health-information organization 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.” 

“New Yorkers will see their health care improve as a direct result of this important union between THINC and STHL,” Susan Stuard, executive director of Taconic Health Information Network and Community. “By joining forces, we will be able broaden our current services for patients and doctors, and expand our policy work.”

Stuard will serve as a senior vice president of HealthlinkNY focusing on grants, demonstration projects, and population health-improvement activities, says Galanis.

The merged organization will span 11 counties across the Southern Tier, Catskills, and Hudson Valley.

STHL currently employs 14 full-time workers. A 15th employee joins the Binghamton office on Dec. 15, says Galanis. THINC currently employs four full-time workers and plans to add two additional employees by January.

STHL is moving its Binghamton office in August “to accommodate our expanding staff,” she says. It currently operates in a 3,800-square-foot space in the Lackawanna Train Station at 45 Lewis St. in Binghamton. 

The office will move to a 9,100-square-foot space at 49 Court St. in Binghamton. 

The New York State Department of Health in November authorized the organizations to certify as one entity in the 2015 certification, which will take effect in May.

HealthlinkNY has a website that refers to the Binghamton office as the Western office and the Fishkill office as the Eastern office.

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. 

Galanis plans to file the paperwork for the merger before the end of the month.

“We have been told by others that have gone through this process that it can take anywhere from three months to a year,” she adds.

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. 

A combined, 20-person board of directors will govern the new HealthlinkNY organization.

Galanis says RHIOs are now referred to as QEs, which are eligible for public funding. RHIOs are required to meet certain regulations and are subject to an external third-party audit before reaching QE status. If an organization doesn’t pass the audit, then it’s not eligible for public funding.

“And if you’re not a qualified entity, you cannot connect with the other RHIOs, or other qualified entities. You can’t come on … to what we call the SHIN-NY,” says Galanis.

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 this kind, which funding included in the current state budget is supporting.       

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com