Delaware Health Information Network

DHIN Adds to Roster of Patient-Directed Information Sharing Clients

Partnerships Enable Automated Record Retrieval for Insurance Applications and Claims

DOVER, DE (November 28, 2023) — Delaware Heath Information Network (DHIN), the First State’s health information exchange, has signed an agreement with MIB Group Holdings, Inc. (MIB) to facilitate the sharing of protected health information upon patient request. With members who represent the leading life insurance companies in North America, MIB is the third customer for DHIN’s unique third-party patient-directed delivery service.

Through this agreement, with patient consent, clients of the MIB Electronic Medical Data Service can securely retrieve clinical data from healthcare providers throughout the state of Delaware and the surrounding region. By providing additional electronic health data, DHIN will increase MIB’s ability to help its members and clients streamline the application and underwriting process for life, disability and long-term care insurance.

As the State-sanctioned provider of health information exchange services, DHIN serves as the central nervous system for healthcare data in Delaware and parts of the surrounding region, sharing real-time clinical information to improve patient outcomes, eliminate the duplication of services and reduce the cost of healthcare. More than three million patients from all fifty states can be found in DHIN’s Master Patient Index.

“Making it easier for consumers to directly access their clinical information is critically important in today’s patient-centered healthcare environment,” said DHIN Chief Operating Officer, Randy Farmer. “DHIN is proud to work with MIB to help facilitate the sharing of clinical information for insurance underwriting purposes, both providing a service to consumers and fulfilling our mission of making health data useful.”

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DHSS Adds Prescription Drug and Imaging Procedures Cost Comparisons to CostAware Website

CostAware Compares Health Care Costs and Quality Based on Delaware Medical and Pharmacy Claims

NEW CASTLE (September 28, 2023) – The Delaware Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS) announced today enhancements to the CostAware website, designed to help Delawareans understand how their health care dollars are spent by comparing the variation of average costs for different episodes of care and medical services based on actual medical and pharmacy claims in Delaware.

The newest CostAware enhancements include cost comparisons for brand and generic prescription drugs by drug category and payer type (commercial insurance, Medicaid, Medicare Advantage). Also added in this update are average cost comparisons for imaging procedures (head CT, lumbar spine MRI, and screening mammography) by provider organization.

  • Prescription Drug Costs compares the average daily cost of brand and generic drugs in Delaware by category and payer type based on 2021 pharmacy claims data. Prescription drugs are identified by National Drug Code (NDC) and grouped into categories assigned based on the condition the drug is intended to treat.
  • Imaging by Provider Organization shows the average cost of imaging procedures by payer type, claim year and provider organization. Estimates reflect both the facility cost (taking the image) and professional cost (reading and interpreting the image).

“Delawareans can now compare costs for prescription drugs by drug category and imaging procedures by provider organization to help them make better decisions around their health care,” DHSS Secretary Josette Manning said. “CostAware has served as a valuable tool for Delawareans since its launch in April 2022. These additional data enhancements will bring another layer of transparency around the health care dollars being spent by Delawareans and their insurers.”

In addition to the prescription drug and imaging procedure cost reports, the most recent version of CostAware includes:

  • Average cost estimates for episodes of care including C-section births, emergency department visits, knee and hip replacement, and vaginal delivery reported for Delaware hospitals.
  • Estimates of the average cost per visit for medical services including child wellness visits, mental and behavioral health services, diabetes care, cardiac procedures, adult doctor visits, and lab tests (blood and urine tests).
  • Results reported by care setting including hospital outpatient facility, outpatient lab, professional office, urgent care facility, and telehealth.
  • Multiple years of data: Results are reported for 2019, 2020 and 2021.
  • Filtering of results by insurance category (Commercial insurance, Medicaid, Medicare Advantage) and patient age range and gender (as appropriate).

The CostAware website was developed by DHSS and the Delaware Health Care Commission (DHCC) in collaboration with Delaware Health Information Network (DHIN).

In early 2020, DHSS and DHCC began working with DHIN to develop and implement various health care cost and quality analyses. These analyses leverage data in the Delaware Health Care Claims Database (HCCD), which was established through legislation passed by the General Assembly in 2016. DHIN manages the claims database and DHSS uses it to inform and support a variety of policy initiatives.

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Delaware Health and Social Services is committed to improving the quality of the lives of Delaware’s citizens by promoting health and well-being, fostering self-sufficiency, and protecting vulnerable populations.

Inaugural Data Usability Summit Supports Nationwide Movement for Enhanced Quality of Electronic Health Information

The Sequoia Project and AHIMA Convened Community of Practice To Make Real Progress Toward Improving Usefulness of Exchanged Health Data

VIENNA, Va. (September 8, 2023)  — The Sequoia Project, a non-profit and trusted
advocate for nationwide health information technology (health IT) interoperability, just concluded a
first-of-its-kind Data Usability Summit that began mapping out plans and timelines for making
health data more useful to people and computers. The summit is part of the nonprofit’s Data
Usability Taking Root initiative launched earlier this year.

Summit attendees from healthcare and health IT organizations across the country convened to
discuss how they intend to implement the data usability guidance published by The Sequoia
Project Interoperability Matters Data Usability Workgroup. The guidance targets improvements
necessary for semantic interoperability of health information, beginning with the quality of clinical
data shared between healthcare providers.

“The energy in the room was palpable,” said Mariann Yeager, CEO of The Sequoia Project.
“Organizations are stepping up and committing whole-heartedly to support and implement data
usability guidance in an unprecedented way. Once we solve the data usability challenge, we’ll be
able to move from simply sharing data to sharing information that can truly make the practice of
healthcare better.”

The event included attendance from organizations that have already committed to implement the
data usability guidance – organizations such as Azuba, Clinical Architecture, Delaware Health
Information Network, Epic, Health Gorilla, and MedAllies – as well as numerous others currently
evaluating how they might implement the guidance. In total, dozens of organizations have
pledged their support and are participating in this vital dialogue to improve the quality and
accuracy of data exchanged.

“Data usability at its root is about the availability, completeness, clarity, and portability of
information,” said Duncan Weatherston, CEO of Smile Digital Health, co-sponsor of the summit.
“We have to start with data – and the usability of data – to achieve goals like accessibility for people
everywhere, innovations that extend longevity and quality of life, and bending the cost curve of
care.”

The summit provided an opportunity for attendees to engage in discussions on data usability pain
points, vendor and customer impacts, and technical and organizational implementation readiness.
Summit attendees discussed likely starting points such as data provenance and traceability of
change, data integrity and trust, data tagging and searchability, effective use of codes, reducing
the impact of duplicates, and effective use of narrative.

“AHIMA’s mission is to empower people to impact health, and we can’t do that without making
data usable, accurate, and complete,” said Lauren Riplinger, chief public policy and impact ofcer
for American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA). “We’re partnering with The
Sequoia Project on the Data Usability Taking Root initiative, the Data Usability Summit, and our
own data usability workshop next month to build momentum because this movement to
implement data usability guidance is critical to build the consistency across technologies necessary
to support the patients, caregivers, and providers relying on the data.”

“MedAllies has two decades of experience collaborating with clinicians using change management
for them to adopt interoperability – critical for optimal care. This is why MedAllies is fully committed
to supporting the Sequoia Data Usability Taking Root movement,” said Holly Miller, MD, internist
and chief medical ofcer for MedAllies, co-sponsor of the summit. “The Data Usability Taking Root
movement has the potential to improve care, the clinicians and patients’ experiences, while making
healthcare more efcient and less costly. Fundamentally, it comes down to having trusted, usable
interoperable data that we need to take care of patients when, where, and how we need it.”

Health and health IT organizations committed to making health data more useful can now join the
Data Usability Taking Root movement. For more information, contact The Sequoia Project at
TakingRoot@sequoiaproject.org.

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About The Sequoia Project
The Sequoia Project is a non-profit, 501c3, public-private collaborative chartered to advance
implementation of secure, interoperable nationwide health information exchange. The Sequoia
Project focuses on solving real-world interoperability challenges and brings together public and
private stakeholders in forums, such as the Interoperability Matters cooperative, to overcome
barriers. The Sequoia Project is the Recognized Coordinating Entity (RCE) for the Office of the
National Coordinator for Health IT’s Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement
(TEFCA). In this role, The Sequoia Project developed and will implement and maintain TEFCA’s
Common Agreement component and operationalize the Qualified Health Information Network
(QHIN) designation and monitoring process.

About AHIMA
AHIMA is a global nonprot association of health information (HI) professionals with more than
67,000 members and more than 100,000 credentials in the field. The AHIMA mission of
empowering people to impact health drives our members and credentialed HI professionals to
ensure that health information is accurate, complete, and available to patients and providers. Our
leaders work at the intersection of healthcare, technology, and business and are found in data
integrity and information privacy job functions worldwide.

DHSS Adds Enhanced Quality Measures and Top Procedures Reports to CostAware Website

CostAware Compares Health Care Costs and Quality Based on Delaware Medical Claims

NEW CASTLE (July 12, 2023) – The Delaware Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS) announced today enhancements to the CostAware website (https://costaware.dhss.delaware.gov/), designed to help Delawareans understand how their health care dollars are spent by comparing the variation of average costs for different episodes of care and medical services based on actual medical claims in Delaware.

In early 2020, DHSS and the Delaware Health Care Commission began working with Delaware Health Information Network (DHIN) to develop and implement various health care cost and quality analyses. These analyses leverage data in the Delaware Health Care Claims Database (HCCD), which was established through legislation passed by the General Assembly in 2016. DHIN manages the claims database and DHSS uses it to inform and support a variety of policy initiatives.

The newest CostAware enhancements include additional quality measures from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), generated under the Hospital Compare and Medicare Shared Savings Program initiatives, and information on the top medical procedures performed in Delaware.

Quality measures for Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) include patient rating of provider; access to timely care; appropriate treatment for diabetes, cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure and depression; and screening rates for breast and colon cancer.

Hospital quality measures include:

  • Patient experience, e.g., rating of nurse and doctor communications; receiving timely help; and overall experience of care.
  • Patient safety, e.g., rates of early elective deliveries, complications/readmissions after hip or knee replacement, and readmission after discharge (all causes).

Top procedures reports show the top 10 medical procedures performed in Delaware based on both the number of claims and total spending. These reports can be filtered by gender, age group, and year.

“Since its initial launch in April 2022, CostAware has served as a valuable tool to help Delawareans understand how their health care dollars are being spent,” said DHSS Secretary Molly Magarik, who is also a member of the Delaware Health Care Commission. “These latest enhancements add yet another layer of transparency while focusing on patient experience and safety, which will further empower consumers to receive good value for their health care dollars.”

In addition to the enhanced quality measures and top procedures reports, the most recent version of CostAware (updated in March 2023) includes:

  • Average cost estimates for episodes of care including C-section births, emergency department visits, knee and hip replacement, and vaginal delivery reported for named Delaware hospitals.
  • Estimates of the average cost per visit for additional medical services, including child wellness visits, mental and behavioral health services, diabetes care, cardiac procedures, adult doctor visits, and lab tests (blood and urine tests).
  • Results reported by type of care setting (e.g., hospital outpatient facility, outpatient lab, professional office, urgent care facility, and telehealth).
  • Multiple years of data – Results are reported for 2019, 2020 and 2021.
  • Trend visualizations, with multiple years of data, show changes over time in average cost, quality, and other measures.
  • Improved filtering of results by insurance category (Commercial insurance, Medicaid, Medicare Advantage) and patient age range and gender (as appropriate).

“Delawareans can now see the differences in cost for very common medical procedures and services, so they can make better decisions around their health care,” said DHSS Director of Healthcare Reform Steven Costantino. “Seeing the variation in the cost, utilization, and quality of health care is critical for everyone in the system – consumers, health care providers, taxpayers, insurers and businesses.”

Early in his administration, Governor John Carney said one of the most important things he could do as Governor is to slow the growth of health care spending. In late 2018, the Governor signed Executive Order 25, establishing a state health care spending benchmark, a per-annum rate-of-growth benchmark for health care spending, and several health care quality measures. The first spending benchmark went into effect on Jan. 1, 2019, and was set at 3.8%, with the target expected to decrease gradually to 3% over the following three years. The first benchmark report measured the growth rate at 7.8% for 2019, or more than twice the 3.8% target. This has proven to be an invaluable initiative, which lead to it being codified in 2022 through House Amendment 1 for House Bill 442.

The CostAware website was developed by DHSS and the Health Care Commission in collaboration with DHIN.

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About DHIN
DHIN, Delaware Health Information Network, was the first live, statewide health information exchange in the nation. Launched in 2007, today it serves all of Delaware’s acute care hospitals and nearly 100% of the state’s medical providers. More than 18 million clinical results and messages are processed through DHIN each year. There are over three million unique patients with results on DHIN, including patients from all 50 states. DHIN shares real-time clinical information to improve patient outcomes, eliminate the duplication of services and reduce the cost of healthcare. For more information, visit www.DHIN.org and connect on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram (@DHIN_hie).

Delaware Health Information Network Announces New Technology Partner for Community Health Record

Flagship Service Returns 71,000 Patient Records Daily

DOVER, DE (April 4, 2023) — Delaware Heath Information Network (DHIN), the First State’s health information exchange, is pleased to announce its technology partnership with Outcome Healthcare to develop the next iteration of DHIN’s Community Health Record, scheduled to go live later this year.

The Community Health Record, one of DHIN’s core services, is a longitudinal patient record for clinicians and care providers, showing an aggregated view of a patient across geography, time and care settings. More than three million patients from all fifty states can be found in DHIN’s Community Health Record.

“Selecting the right technology partner was a lengthy and thoughtful process for the DHIN team,” explained Chief Technology Officer Jeff Reger. “We worked collaboratively with representatives from our stakeholders to ensure the voice of the user was heard in choosing our path forward.”

“Outcome Healthcare is eager to take DHIN’s Community Health Record to the next level,” said Outcome Founder & CEO Justin Kaltenbach. “We’re proud to deploy a proven, extensive healthcare architecture to best equip health information exchanges like DHIN to manage patient data securely, accurately and quickly.” 

DHIN serves as the central nervous system for healthcare data in Delaware and parts of the surrounding region, sharing real-time clinical information to improve patient outcomes, eliminate the duplication of services and reduce the cost of healthcare. DHIN also powers Delaware’s Health Care Claims Database, supporting public and private entities looking to leverage data analytics insights for research and policy purposes, including clinical trials recruitment.

Details about the new Community Health Record will be available on dhin.org/chr.

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About DHIN
DHIN, the Delaware Health Information Network, was the first live, statewide health information exchange in the nation. Launched in 2007, today it serves all of Delaware’s acute care hospitals and nearly 100% of the state’s medical providers. More than 18 million clinical results and messages are processed through DHIN each year. There are over three million unique patients with results on DHIN, including patients from all 50 states. DHIN shares real-time clinical information to improve patient outcomes, eliminate the duplication of services and reduce the cost of healthcare. For more information, visit DHIN.org and connect on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram (@DHIN_hie).

Delaware Health Information Network Achieves HITRUST Risk-based, 2-year Certification Demonstrating the Highest Level of Information Protection Assurance

HITRUST Risk-based, 2-year (r2) Certification validates DHIN’s commitment to strong cybersecurity and meeting key regulations to protect sensitive data

DOVER, DE (March 30, 2023) — Delaware Health Information Network (DHIN), the First State’s health information exchange, today announced the following technology and services have earned certified status by HITRUST for information security:

Analytics SFTP Server; Azure Active Directory; Clinical SFTP Server; Encounter Notification Service; Health Care Claims Database; Microsoft Office 365; Mirth Connect; NXT; and Personal Health Record.

HITRUST Risk-based, 2-year (r2) Certified status demonstrates that the organization has met demanding regulatory compliance and industry-defined requirements and is appropriately managing risk for the certified technology and services. DHIN previously earned certified status in 2020 and 2017 for several of its service offerings.

This achievement places DHIN in an elite group of organizations worldwide that have earned this certification. By including federal and state regulations, standards and frameworks and incorporating a risk-based approach, the HITRUST Assurance Program helps organizations address security and data protection challenges through a comprehensive and flexible framework of prescriptive and scalable security controls.

“We are demonstrating to practitioners, providers, patients and partners our commitment to the highest standards for protecting sensitive healthcare data by achieving the rigorous HITRUST Risk-based, 2-year Certification,” said Dr. Jan Lee, Chief Executive Officer, DHIN. “It is imperative as the state’s health information exchange that we lead by example and follow best practices.”

“HITRUST Certification is globally recognized as validation that information security and privacy controls are effective and compliant with various regulations. HITRUST Certification is considered the gold standard because of the comprehensiveness and applicability of the control requirements, depth of the assurance process and level of oversight that ensures accuracy,” said Jeremy Huval, Chief Innovation Officer, HITRUST. “Individually, each element exceeds most other programs, and collectively they make HITRUST Certification the most comprehensive, transparent, consistent and highest quality assessment available.”

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About DHIN
DHIN, Delaware Health Information Network, was the first live, statewide health information exchange in the nation. Launched in 2007, today it serves all of Delaware’s acute care hospitals and nearly 100% of the state’s medical providers. More than 18 million clinical results and messages are processed through DHIN each year. There are over three million unique patients with results on DHIN, including patients from all 50 states. DHIN shares real-time clinical information to improve patient outcomes, eliminate the duplication of services and reduce the cost of healthcare. For more information, visit www.DHIN.org and connect on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram (@DHIN_hie).

DHSS Launches CostAware 2.0 with Enhanced Cost Comparison Data

CostAware Compares Delaware Health Care Costs Based on Medical Claims

New Castle, DE (March 3, 2023) — The Delaware Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS) announced today the launch of a new version of its CostAware website, designed to help Delawareans understand how their health care dollars are spent by comparing the variation of average costs for different episodes of care and medical services based on actual medical claims in Delaware.

In early 2020, DHSS and the Delaware Health Care Commission began working with Delaware Health Information Network (DHIN) to develop and implement various health care cost and quality analyses. These analyses leverage data in the Delaware Health Care Claims Database (HCCD), which was established through legislation passed by the General Assembly in 2016. DHIN manages the claims database and DHSS uses it to inform and support a variety of policy initiatives.

The initial version of CostAware, launched in April 2022, compared hospital costs for several common episodes of care at six unnamed hospital systems: cardiac procedures, C-section birth, emergency department visits, knee and hip replacement, and vaginal delivery. The costs across five accountable care organizations (ACOs) are also compared for seven common services: blood count, colonoscopy, doctor visits, hemoglobin A1c, head CT, lumbar spine MRI and screening mammography.

In addition to the above data, this version of CostAware includes the following enhancements:

  • Average cost estimates for episodes of care reported for named Delaware hospitals.
  • Estimates of the average cost per visit for additional medical services, including child wellness visits, mental and behavioral/health services, diabetes care, cardiac investigations and procedures, doctor visits by complexity, and lab tests (blood and urine tests).
  • Results reported by type of care setting (e.g., hospital outpatient facility, outpatient lab, professional office, urgent care facility, and telehealth) to facilitate additional comparisons.
  • Additional years of data included – 2020 and 2021 were added to the 2019 data used for CostAware 1.0.
  • Trend visualizations, with multiple years of data, show changes over time in average cost, quality, and other measures.
  • Improved filtering of results by insurance category (Commercial, Medicaid, Medicare Advantage) and patient age range and gender (as appropriate).

“Since its launch last year, CostAware has served as a valuable tool in highlighting the variation in the cost, utilization, and quality of health care in Delaware,” said DHSS Secretary Molly Magarik, who is also a member of the Delaware Health Care Commission. “We are excited for these additional data enhancements, as they add yet another layer of transparency and awareness around the health care dollars that are spent by Delawareans and their insurers.”

CostAware also includes quality measures, including the readmission and utilization rates, and patient satisfaction scores, all from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) as part of its Hospital Compare and Medicare Shared Savings Program initiatives. Each episode of care and service can be filtered further by the type of insurance: commercial, Medicare Advantage and Medicaid.

Early in his administration, Governor John Carney said one of the most important things he could do as Governor is to slow the growth of health care spending. In late 2018, the Governor signed Executive Order 25, establishing a state health care spending benchmark, a per-annum rate-of-growth benchmark for health care spending, and several health care quality measures. The first spending benchmark went into effect on Jan. 1, 2019, and was set at 3.8%, with the target expected to decrease gradually to 3% over the following three years. The first benchmark report measured the growth rate at 7.8% for 2019, or more than twice the 3.8% target. This has proven to be an invaluable initiative, which lead to it being codified in 2022 through House Amendment 1 for House Bill 442.

The CostAware website was developed by DHSS and the Health Care Commission in collaboration with DHIN.

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About DHIN
DHIN, Delaware Health Information Network, was the first live, statewide health information exchange in the nation. Launched in 2007, today it serves all of Delaware’s acute care hospitals and nearly 100% of the state’s medical providers. More than 18 million clinical results and messages are processed through DHIN each year. There are over three million unique patients with results on DHIN, including patients from all 50 states. DHIN shares real-time clinical information to improve patient outcomes, eliminate the duplication of services and reduce the cost of healthcare. For more information, visit www.DHIN.org and connect on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram (@DHIN_hie).

DHIN Recognized as a DirectTrust Interoperability Hero

DirectTrust Initiative recognizes organizations, teams and individuals driving interoperability advancements

WASHINGTON, DC (November 8, 2022) — Delaware Heath Information Network (DHIN), the First State’s health information exchange, is pleased to announce its recognition as a DirectTrust Interoperability Hero. The nation’s first operational statewide health information exchange, DHIN shares real-time clinical information to improve patient and clinician experience, lower costs and promote better outcomes. DirectTrust is a non-profit healthcare industry alliance created to support secure, identity-verified electronic exchanges of protected health information.

In the category of “Broadening Interoperability through the Spectrum of Care,” DHIN was recognized for developing a shared-cost agreement with two Accountable Care Organizations, along with Delaware’s skilled nursing facility providers and an electronic medical record provider to enroll 33 facilities with DHIN.

The post-acute care setting has traditionally been a “black box” for clinicians who need healthcare data from the facilities to treat patients and for Accountable Care Organizations, whose pay-for-value measures require this data for outcome measurement. Skilled nursing facilities in Delaware historically did not use electronic medical records and couldn’t send the Admission, Discharge and Transfer (ADT) summary messages that drive alerts through DHIN. While DHIN processes over 130 million of these messages each year from healthcare systems from across the mid-Atlantic region, a very small fraction are from post-acute care facilities.

This collaboration brings significant closure to this data gap, ultimately allowing for up to 85% of post-acute care organizations in the state to deliver their ADTs through DHIN, correspondingly enabling the delivery of alerts to treating clinicians, improving the coordination of care and making this data history available by query in DHIN’s Community Health Record.

“We’re delighted to recognize DHIN as an Interoperability Hero,” said Scott Stuewe, President and CEO of DirectTrust. “There’s power in knowing the stories driving advancements in interoperability. We’re thrilled to bring attention to the use cases and successes of the efforts of those meeting the criteria of Interoperability Hero.”

DirectTrust’s Interoperability Hero Initiative recognizes those organizations, teams, and individuals integral to advancing interoperability. Each quarter, DirectTrust opens a window for Interoperability Hero nominations based on significant contribution in a variety of categories, including fax alternatives, collaboration with others, identity-proofing, organizational efficiencies and using Direct with other standards and networks (e.g., FHIR, Query). Entities meeting the criteria are recognized as an Interoperability Hero and announced in DirectTrust’s quarterly metrics release. For additional information about DirectTrust’s Interoperability Hero initiative, visit bit.ly/InteropHero.

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About DirectTrust
DirectTrust™ is a non-profit, vendor-neutral alliance initially created by and for participants in the healthcare and technology communities, including Health Information Service Providers (HISPs), Certificate Authorities (CAs), Registration Authorities (RAs), healthcare providers, pharmaceutical companies, consumers/patients, and health IT vendors. DirectTrust serves as a governance forum, trust community, standards organization, and accreditation body for persons and entities engaged in exchange utilizing PKI mechanisms for trusted, secure information exchange like Direct Secure Messaging and trusted, compliant document submission. The goal of DirectTrust is to develop, promote, and, as necessary, help enforce the rules and best practices necessary to maintain security and trust within its trust community. DirectTrust is committed to fostering widespread public confidence in the interoperable exchange of health information. To learn more, visit www.directtrust.org.

About DHIN
DHIN, the Delaware Health Information Network, was the first live, statewide health information exchange in the nation. Launched in 2007, today it serves all of Delaware’s acute care hospitals and nearly 100% of the state’s medical providers. More than 81 million clinical results and messages are processed through DHIN each year. There are over three million unique patients with results on DHIN, including patients from all 50 states. DHIN shares real-time clinical information to improve patient outcomes, eliminate the duplication of services and reduce the cost of healthcare. For more information, visit www.DHIN.org and connect on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram (@DHIN_hie).

DHIN Receives Highmark BluePrints Grant to Support Quality of Life Initiative

Grant Supports Electronic Medical Orders Registry for Patients

DOVER, DE (May 31, 2022) — Delaware Health Information Network (DHIN) recently received a $50,000 BluePrints for the Community grant from Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield Delaware to support the Delaware Medical Orders for Scope of Treatment (DMOST) form electronic registry.

Spearheaded by the Delaware Quality of Life Coalition, a collaboration between the public and hospice and palliative care professionals, the DMOST initiative is designed to improve the quality of care received at the end of life by translating patient goals and preferences into medical orders.

DHIN manages the electronic registry of DMOST forms, providing treating clinicians with secure access to this documentation, ensuring patient wishes for end-of-life care are respected across the spectrum of the healthcare delivery system.

“End-of-life care is not an easy subject, but it is important that our loved ones have the care, dignity and resources necessary to maintain their health as long as possible. The use of DMOST forms supports this while also providing valuable medical insights for our practitioners,” said Nick Moriello, president of Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield Delaware.

BluePrints for the Community, housed by the Delaware Community Foundation, has contributed over $22 million to the community since its inception in 2007. It was established to serve Delawareans, with emphasis on, but not limited to, the needs of the uninsured and underserved, and to reduce health care disparities in minority population and address social determinants of health.

Dr. Jan Lee, CEO of DHIN and a family practice physician, said, “We are grateful for the BluePrints for the Community grant, which will sustain registry operations for the next two years. During that time, we will continue to seek a long-term source of support to ensure patient preferences in end-of-life care continue to be respected.”


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About DHIN
DHIN, the Delaware Health Information Network, was the first live, statewide health information exchange in the nation. Launched in 2007, today it serves all of Delaware’s acute care hospitals and nearly 100% of the state’s medical providers. More than 14 million clinical results and reports are delivered through DHIN each year. There are over three million unique patients with results on DHIN, including patients from all 50 states. DHIN shares real-time clinical information to improve patient outcomes, eliminate the duplication of services and reduce the cost of healthcare. For more information, visit www.DHIN.org and connect on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram (@DHIN_hie).

About Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield Delaware
Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield Delaware serves approximately 470,000 members through the company’s health care benefits business. Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield Delaware is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, an association of independent Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies. For more information, visit www.highmarkbcbsde.com.

DHSS Launches Website Comparing Costs for Select Episodes of Care and Services

NEW CASTLE, DE – The Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS) has launched a new website called CostAware to help Delawareans understand how their health care dollars are spent by comparing the variation of average costs for different episodes of care and medical services based on actual medical claims in Delaware.

Hospital costs are compared for five common episodes of care at six hospital systems: cardiac procedures, C-section birth, emergency department visits, knee and hip replacement, and vaginal delivery. The costs across five accountable care organizations (ACOs) are also compared for seven common services: blood count, colonoscopy, doctor visits, hemoglobin A1c, head CT, lumbar spine MRI and screening mammography. The rates are based on 2019 medical claims in the Delaware Health Care Claims Database and reflect the cost that consumers and their insurers actually paid for the care.

In addition, quality measures are provided, including the readmission and utilization rates, and patient satisfaction scores, all from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) as part of its Hospital Compare and Medicare Shared Savings Program initiatives. Each episode of care and service can be filtered further by the type of insurance: commercial, Medicare Advantage and Medicaid.

“This kind of transparency and public awareness of health care spending is important for everyone in the system – consumers, health care providers, taxpayers, insurers and businesses,” said DHSS Secretary Molly Magarik, who is also a member of the Delaware Health Care Commission. “We all want good value for the health care dollars we do spend. CostAware offers a glimpse into the actual costs that Delawareans and their insurers are paying, and the quality measures associated with that care.”

In this initial version of CostAware, the Delaware hospital systems and accountable care organizations are not identified. Secretary Magarik said she hopes to include that information in future versions of the website.

The site also breaks down the average monthly cost of care for each member of an accountable care organization and the top procedures for several age and gender groups based on overall volume and dollar volume.

In early 2020, DHSS and the Delaware Health Care Commission began working with Delaware Health Information Network (DHIN) to develop and implement various health care cost and quality analyses. These analyses leverage data in the Delaware Health Care Claims Database (HCCD), which was established through legislation passed by the General Assembly in 2016. DHIN manages the claims database and DHSS uses it to inform and support a variety of policy initiatives.

CostAware is the result of goals from that partnership that include expanding the claims database analysis, measurement and reporting capabilities to increase transparency; highlighting variation in health care system performance; adding to consumers’ knowledge base; and identifying opportunities to improve quality and reduce costs for Delaware residents.

Early in his administration, Governor John Carney said one of the most important things he could do as Governor is to slow the growth of health care spending. In late 2018, the Governor signed Executive Order 25, establishing a state health care spending benchmark, a per-annum rate-of-growth benchmark for health care spending, and several health care quality measures. The first spending benchmark went into effect on Jan. 1, 2019, and was set at 3.8%, with the target expected to decrease gradually to 3% over the following three years. The first benchmark report measured the growth rate at 7.8% for 2019, or more than twice the 3.8% target.

The CostAware website was developed by DHSS and the Health Care Commission in collaboration with DHIN.

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Testimonials

“DHIN makes it very easy for us when a patient calls and says that they’ve had lab work or they’ve had imaging done, that we’re able to print that out and have that in their chart and reviewed prior to their appointment. So, it helps us out a lot in terms of time and convenience.”

– Wendy Silicato, First State Gastroenterology Association

Delaware Health Information Network - Empowering Data-Driven Decisions

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