As you're planning projects and budgets for the upcoming year, WISHIN can work with you to determine the solution(s) that best meet your organization's goals for health information exchange and improved quality of patient care. Below are four compelling reasons to take advantage of WISHIN's products and services now.

Reason 1 - Prepare for Meaningful Use Stage 2: Transitions of Care

Navigating the technical requirements for the Meaningful Use Stage 2 (MU2) "Transitions of Care" objective can be confusing. It is important to know that just having an electronic health record system (EHR) may not be enough for you to meet this objective.

WISHIN can help you meet your Transitions of Care goals for MU2 in two ways:

1. Direct Messaging: WISHIN's Direct+ product includes a back-end HISP (Health Information Service Provider) that can integrate with your EHR, through a Direct Secure Messaging connection or a SOAP+XDR/XDM connection, both of which meet the technical requirements for the Meaningful Use Transitions of Care measure. WISHIN's HISP allows you to exchange care summaries with other providers in the WISHIN network, and with providers in other networks connected to WISHIN.

To determine if you need WISHIN's HISP, ask your EHR vendor:

• Whether they provide a usable HISP as part of their Meaningful Use Stage 2 certified product; and, if not,  
• Whether their software is certified for SOAP+XDR/XDM.

If the answer to the second question is yes, then WISHIN can provide your organization with a HISP and the associated Direct addresses needed to meet the technical requirements for this objective.

Connecting to WISHIN's HISP can be accomplished within a few weeks but may require configuration by your EHR vendor, so be sure to contact WISHIN well ahead of your 90-day Meaningful Use Stage 2 attestation period to be sure you can be set-up in time to start your measures.

2. eHealth Exchange Participation: WISHIN Pulse, WISHIN's community health record and query-based exchange product, will be connected to the eHealth Exchange (formerly known as the Nationwide Health Information Network), which meets another of the technical requirements for the MU2 Transitions of Care objective. Your organization can share care summaries with WISHIN Pulse, which can then be accessed by other providers connected to WISHIN Pulse, by other providers connected to the eHealth Exchange, or through other state/regional health information exchanges that connect to WISHIN Pulse.

Connecting to WISHIN Pulse for care summary exchange takes approximately 16-20 weeks. This timeline could be longer if your organization needs to have interfaces developed (either in-house or by a vendor) in order to share care summaries. Be sure to contact WISHIN well ahead of your 90-day MU2 attestation period in order to ensure you can be set up in time to start your measures.

 If this all still sounds confusing, give us a call. We can help you navigate the requirements and determine whether or not you need us to satisfy the measures for MU2 Transitions of Care.

Reason 2 - Prepare for Meaningful Use Stage 2: Syndromic Surveillance

For eligible hospitals, submission of syndromic surveillance data to public health is required for MU2. WISHIN can help you meet this objective. Sending your organization's syndromic surveillance data through WISHIN to the Wisconsin Division of Public Health offers you the advantage of managing fewer independent connections from your organization's EHR system, especially if you're planning to participate in WISHIN Pulse for other activities.

Reason 3 - Access to the WISHIN Pulse Community Health Record

WISHIN is currently working with facilities in 45 of Wisconsin's 72 counties to implement WISHIN Pulse. Our network continues to grow rapidly. Participating in WISHIN Pulse provides your organization access to the WISHIN Pulse community health record, which can benefit your organization by:

• Reducing the administrative costs and inefficiencies associated with requesting or supplying medical records from or to other organizations and care providers. Because WISHIN Pulse participants make essential health care information available through Pulse prospectively, care providers can use WISHIN Pulse to instantly access important information on their patient at the point of care - when it is needed most. WISHIN Pulse includes information such as: patient' demographics, allergies, problem lists, procedures, lab results, radiology and pathology reports, transcription records, and care summaries.   
• Improving patient safety by reducing the number of duplicative tests and re-admissions. Because Pulse includes important medical information at the point and time of care, care providers can have a more complete picture of the patient's health and health history.   
• Providing an efficient workflow for health care providers to access patient medical information available through WISHIN Pulse by integrating Pulse with your organization's EHR.

Reason 4 -- Take Advantage of Available Grant Funding

WISHIN secured funding to enable your organization to connect your systems to WISHIN Pulse at no charge for HIE onboarding. Many organizations have taken advantage of this opportunity and are currently in the process of onboarding. The good news is that there is still some funding available! But time is short. Based on current participation rates, we expect the funding to be gone by the end of December, if not sooner.   

Typically, WISHIN Pulse onboarding costs can exceed $15,000 per interface. Onboarding costs after funding runs out will be based on WISHIN participation, and could be higher.  

By taking advantage of this funding there will be no charge from WISHIN for onboarding; however, your organization will still be responsible for any costs needed to build or modify interfaces from your systems to WISHIN Pulse, as well as for any resources needed by your organization to complete the onboarding process.  

To the fullest extent possible, WISHIN will leverage your existing interfaces to connect to WISHIN Pulse and you will not have to develop interfaces from scratch. If, however, your organization does not have existing interfaces - or if your existing interfaces cannot be leveraged - you will need to develop the interfaces based on interface specifications provided by WISHIN.  

If your organization wants to take advantage of this funding, please call now. Funding will be available on a first-come, first-served basis until it is gone.

As the end of the year and 2014 Meaningful Use Stage 2 reporting periods rapidly approach, now is the best time to contact WISHIN to discuss how we can help your organization achieve its Meaningful Use, health information exchange, and quality of care improvement goals for the upcoming year. Contact WISHIN today!