BY Nancy Ferris
Published on May 8, 2006

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Nine states will participate in a Department of Health and Human Services-sponsored project to identify best practices for state-level regional health information organizations (RHIOs).

The nine states are California, Colorado, Florida, Indiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Tennessee and Utah, the Foundation of Research and Education of the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) announced today.

Each state was required to have an established public/private organization operating either as a coordinator of local RHIOs or as an operational RHIO. RHIOs that are already exchanging health care information went to the top of the list, along with those operating the longest and serving the largest geographical areas.

Other states will be consulted throughout the project, which will include interviews, site visits and a conference in July.

“During the interview process, we will be seeking to determine what the RHIO leaders believe are key factors for success and what they would do differently if they could do it over,” Victoria Prescott, the project’s principal investigator, said in a statement. “We also want to know where the flashpoints were and what unexpected delays were encountered during the development process.”

Prescott is general counsel and business development specialist at the Regenstrief Institute in Indianapolis. The project also involves the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Dr. David Brailer, national coordinator for health information technology, announced the contract award to the AHIMA foundation in March. He has said that state-level RHIOs can serve as a link among RHIOs at various levels and a future national health information network.