Greetings Friends of NeHC,

As the year draws to a close, I would like to share with you some highlights of National eHealth Collaborative (NeHC)’s successes in 2011.  Our team has had a very busy, productive, and exciting year.  We are proud of what we have accomplished in expanding NeHC University, publishing a report profiling leaders in health information exchange (HIE), convening the Consumer Consortium on eHealth, launching a new website and online community, and continuing our support of the Nationwide Health Information Network.

NeHC University

As many of you know, we significantly expanded the number and types of NeHC University programs offered this year.  We offered a wide variety of education programs on health information technology (HIT) and HIE-related topics, including HIT orientation and trends, HIE leadership and sustainability, accountable care and the learning health system.  We were very pleased to welcome Todd Park, Chief Technology Officer for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, to kick off our Spotlight Learning Series on Trends in HIT Innovation.  We also hosted a number of briefings by representatives from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) on their major initiatives, including an update on the work of the HIT Policy and Standards Committees, the Standards and Interoperability Framework, Beacon Communities, and the Direct Project. 

We are delighted that our stakeholders are responding so positively to our expanded education program.  We continue to be impressed by the level of engagement we see from our audience and we are humbled by the overwhelmingly positive feedback we have received on the quality, timeliness and relevance of our programs.  We take great pride in the caliber of speakers and panelists we are able to attract and are extremely grateful for their participation.  Thank you as well to the nearly 8,000 stakeholders that attended our programs this year.

We will be announcing the NeHC University programs for spring 2012 very soon.  We hope our stakeholders will find that we continue to deliver high quality education programs on the hottest health IT and HIE-related topics. 

HIE Leadership & Sustainability

In August, NeHC released Secrets of HIE Success Revealed: Lessons from the Leaders.  This report profiles a dozen organizations who are leading the way in achieving successful, sustainable HIE and having a great impact in their communities.  Our goal was to facilitate learning by capturing the insights and guidance of these leaders and providing a forum for sharing their experiences with others who are interested.  The level of interest in our HIE report and its subsequent education programs and roundtable discussions has been incredible.  Our network of HIE leaders are prominent national experts who have been generous in sharing their experiences and lessons learned and we thank them for their wisdom.  We hope that this dialogue will help to accelerate progress toward successful HIE and its benefits for improving patient care.

Going forward we hope to build on this body of work to expand our network of HIE leaders and continue to provide a forum for gathering and disseminating best practices, as well as digging more deeply into areas where further collaboration is needed to make progress in addressing remaining challenges.  If there are specific HIE-related opportunities or issues that you think NeHC can help with, or you would like to recommend an organization for inclusion in the HIE leader network, please let us know. 

Consumer Consortium on eHealth

Earlier this year, NeHC launched the Consumer Consortium on eHealth as a multi-stakeholder collaborative for sharing best practices, initiatives, tools, resources, ideas and experience related to effective consumer engagement on health IT.  Over 200 organizations are working together to identify obstacles to the adoption of eHealth, brainstorm solutions, and develop effective communication strategies to reach a national audience with messages about the importance and benefits of health IT. 

The Consumer Consortium is working closely with ONC in their efforts to engage consumers on health IT.  For example, the Consortium’s content work group provided substantial input on the new health IT website launched by ONC and National Coordinator for Health IT Farzad Mostashari previewed ONC’s consumer engagement strategy with the Consumer Consortium at our August meeting and invited feedback from participants. On behalf of the Consumer Consortium, NeHC also pledged to educate and convene stakeholders on health IT as part of ONC’s pledge program.

The next phase of the Consumer Consortium will focus on developing basic health IT messages targeted for key consumer segments.  Based on the agreed upon messages, the Consortium will produce materials for refinement and dissemination by participants.  Leveraging existing research and best practices, we will also develop and build consensus around a model of the ideal patient-centered health system that can be used as a guide by organizations looking to implement a patient-centered health IT strategy.  We invite you to join us in these efforts.

NeHC Stakeholder Outreach & Collaboration

In September, NeHC launched a new easy to navigate and informative website with expanded functionality including a comprehensive knowledgebase and user directed online community.  The website also hosts a full archive of our education programs and information on the Nationwide Health Information Network.  We hope that you will join our online community and take advantage of the many resources available to our stakeholders through the new NeHC website.

NeHC also embarked on a social media campaign this year, leveraging YouTube, Twitter and Facebook to connect with stakeholders and share information.  We encourage you to connect with us through your favorite social media platform. 

2012 NeHC Board of Directors

On December 15, NeHC announced its Board officers and new Board members for 2012.  Kevin Hutchinson, founder and CEO of My-Villages and former CEO of Prematics and Surescripts, is our new Board Chair.  Vice Chair will be Holt Anderson, Executive Director of the North Carolina Healthcare Information and & Communications Alliance (NCHICA).  Tom Fritz, CEO of Inland Northwest Health Services, will serve as Treasurer.  Janet Corrigan from National Quality Forum and Paul Uhrig from Surescripts will head up key NeHC committees.

We welcome new members of our Board of Directors:

• Steve Cone, Executive Vice President of Integrated Value and Strategy, AARP [Designated Consumer Representative]
• Leslie Kelly Hall, Senior Vice President for Policy, Healthwise [Designated Consumer Representative]
• Michael Barr, MD, Senior Vice President, Medical Practice, Professionalism & Quality, American College of Physicians
• Robin Thomashauer, Executive Director, CAQH
• Bill Spooner, Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer, Sharp HealthCare

The NeHC team would like to thank our stakeholders for your engagement with us in 2011.  We look forward to working with you in the next year and beyond to accelerate progress toward our shared goal of improved health and healthcare for all Americans through successful, widespread deployment of health IT and health information exchange.

We wish you a happy and eHealthy holiday season.

Warmest regards,

Kate and the NeHC team