Healthcare providers in the Virgin Islands will soon be able to securely access and share medical information for some 29,000 Medicaid recipients.
Gov. Albert Bryan announced on Friday receipt of $14.9 million in federal funding to implement a Health Information Exchange (HIE) for the territory’s Medicaid recipients and to continue promoting the use of certified electronic health record technology by healthcare providers.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (HHS-CMS) has approved $14,990,078 to be utilized between fiscal years 2020 and 2021 to build an HIE for VI Medicaid recipients. The funding is also to be used for the continued administration of the Promoting Interoperability program in the Territory. HHS-CMS’ funding approval authorizes $8,810,501 for Fiscal Year 2020 and $4,680,569 for Fiscal Year 2021, with the federal share at $13,491,070, or 90 percent, and a local match of $1,499,008 or 10 percent. The VI Department of Human Services will administer the funds and is tasked with establishing the HIE.
A HIE allows doctors, nurses, pharmacists and other healthcare providers and patients to access and securely share a patient’s vital medical information electronically – improving the speed, quality, safety and cost of patient care. Also, in 2011, HHS-CMS created the Promoting Interoperability program which incentivizes eligible professionals and hospitals to adopt, implement, upgrade as well as successfully demonstrate the use of certified electronic health record technology.
“Implementing a health information exchange in the USVI is essential to building a 21st century healthcare infrastructure,” Mr. Bryan said. “A real-time interoperable territorial HIE is critical because it would eliminate redundant tests and procedures, increase patient engagement by allowing patients to view their health information in real time, and increase quality of care since longitudinal information may exist. Overall this will improve health outcomes.”
“This effort will require strategic partnerships between the public and private sectors and non-governmental organizations,” the governor added. “These partners must work collectively and collaboratively to develop and sustain the territorial HIE. We must also look beyond our current needs and plan for the future. The territorial HIE should be not limited to local public and private providers but also to those providing care on the US mainland and beyond.”
HHS-CMS plans to conduct onsite reviews of the program to determine if the objectives for which the federal funding was approved are being accomplished and to verify that the program is being administered effectively and efficiently.
Mr. Bryan thanked former Delegate to Congress Donna Christiansen, and leadership teams of the VI departments of Health and Human Services and local hospital and health center officials for working closely with his office on the HIE initiative.
In March 2019, Ms. Christensen wrote an Op-Ed about the HIE in the territory.
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