Guide to Establishing a Regional Health Information Organization

Written by the HIMSS RHIO Guidebook Task Force, this book is a comprehensive resource to support and guide those who are exploring, or actively involved in community initiatives to establish a RHIO to support the interoperable exchange of health information. This guide: *Explores the role of stakeholders and the concept of collaboration, as well as governance models associated with more formal organizational structures. *Provides a practical how-to approach for RHIOs to address financing and the process of evaluating whether a new separate entity is appropriate. *Addresses planning, evaluation and sustainability and how a newly forming RHIO anticipates barriers to its long-term survival before the first data is exchanged. *Orients readers to the industry perspective regarding patient identification, reviews privacy and security considerations and explores the most common models for data exchange and business components *Explores HIPAA Privacy and Security regulations and the need to take applicable state laws and regulations governing the privacy and confidentiality of patient information into account as part of the creation, organization and operation of a RHIO. *Presents case studies and illustrates potential use cases for RHIOs.