What You Should Know:
- U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI) Governor Albert Bryan Jr. signed a Letter of Intent with CRISP Shared Services to participate in a health data interoperability pilot program that will lay the foundation for OHIT’s Health Information Exchange in the Territory.
- The pilot establishes the initial phase of the Territory’s Health Information Exchange (HIE), which will enable the instant sharing of health information among doctors’ offices, hospitals, federally qualified health centers, Department of Human Services Medicaid Division, Department of Health clinics, labs, radiology, identified community-based organizations and other health care entities.
- CRISP Shared Services will help build the islands’ infrastructure for a health data utility (HDU) using federal funds from a number of federal health agencies. The HDU will function through the local government to be used by healthcare professionals to enhance patient care, public health officials to support the community, and the Medicaid agency to treat vulnerable individuals.
Why It Matters
OHIT Director Michelle M. Francis said the pilot program will build the necessary infrastructure to enable USVI healthcare institutions and key government agencies to prove out the minimum necessary data elements needed to create secure workflows between providers across the Territory’s health system.
“This pilot is a win for the USVI as it gives us a safe and funded space to make the first tangible, technical steps in building our HIE with a nationally recognized, pre-certified, innovative technology organization,” Director Francis said. “We have already begun the behind-the-scenes work of building out a governance structure, and along with creating local policies and agreements that comply with federal privacy and security standards to support the secure electronic exchange of health information, brings it all into focus and sets it into high gear now.”