Delaware Health Information Network

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.

DHIN Recognized as a DirectTrust Interoperability Hero

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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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DHIN Recognized as a DirectTrust Interoperability Hero

November, 2022
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...

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Bear MRI & Imaging Joins DHIN

DOVER, DE  — Delaware Health Information Network (DHIN) is pleased to welcome Bear MRI & Imaging Center to its network. This addition increases the amount of clinical data available in DHIN’s Community Health Record and expands the resources vital for more robust care coordination.

DHIN was the first operational statewide health information exchange in the nation, providing an electronic network through which hospitals, physicians, labs and other clinical entities quickly and securely exchange clinical results and reports. Since its inception in 2007, DHIN has evolved to offer nearly 20 distinct services, in addition to results delivery, to the healthcare community. 

One of these key services is DHIN’s Community Health Record, which provides healthcare practitioners with secure and on-demand access to the clinical information they need—across time, geography and care settings—to better serve their patients.

Currently, the Community Health Record is used by nearly 11,000 practitioners, securely storing over 150-million clinical messages and results on more than three million unique patients.

“Adding Bear MRI & Imaging Center as a data sender to DHIN means more patients will benefit from having their clinical information available to the healthcare practitioners who require that information to deliver optimal care,” said DHIN Chief Executive Officer Dr. Jan Lee.

“We are very excited to join Delaware Health Information Network,” said Bear MRI & Imaging Center President Robert Baca. “DHIN was one of the first collaborative efforts of this type in the country and has helped keep patient care in Delaware on a superior level. We believe we will be adding value to the network by offering high-level imaging services—which will soon include 3-D reports.”


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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).

DHIN Recognized as a DirectTrust Interoperability Hero

November, 2022
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...

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Delaware Health Information Network Joins New Collaborative to Help Keep Kids in School

WILMINGTON, DE — Nemours Children’s Health, Colonial School District, Delaware Health Information Network (DHIN), and The Data Service Center are excited to announce a new collaborative project to share school attendance data with primary care providers across the state. This collaboration, Data Access for Student Health (D.A.S.H.), is the first of its kind in the region, and one of just two such projects in the country.

Studies show that chronic absenteeism, defined as missing more than ten percent of the school year, has been linked to lowered academic performance and lower rates of kids staying in school. Chronic school absenteeism can also lead to higher risk of substance abuse and violent behavior.

“There are many reasons children may miss school, but some of the top reasons for gaps in attendance are related to poverty and chronic illnesses with some of the top health-related reasons as asthma, mental health concerns, and dental emergencies,” explains Kara Odom Walker, MD, MPH, MSHS, Nemours Executive Vice President, Chief Population Health Officer. “This new DASH collaboration epitomizes Nemours’ bold new strategy of redefining children’s health, and how we need to work with our community partners to make that happen. This partnership underscores how Nemours is committed to supporting children’s live, work and play environments beyond medicine, which are all factors in achieving health.”    

With parental consent, school attendance as well as whether the student has an education plan (504/IEP), will be collected via Colonial School District and shared with DHIN via the Data Service Center. When a threshold of absences is noted, it will create an alert. Through DHIN’s event notification system, primary care providers will be notified and encouraged to reach out to the family to better understand the cause of their child missing school. Additionally, by alerting the provider to a student’s education plan, a holistic care plan could be created with the child’s parent or guardian.

“Awareness of attendance data, specifically absences, will help primary care providers address the immediate health and social needs of children,” explains Jonathan Miller, DM, Medical Director of Value-Based Care. “We also recognize that regular attendance is more challenging for children with more complex medical conditions. Early detection enables healthcare providers and care coordinators to proactively reach out to address evolving care needs.”

“By leveraging the event notification technology that many of Delaware’s clinicians already rely upon in coordinating patient care, DHIN can be a conduit for this important data,” says Jan Lee, MD, DHIN Chief Executive Officer. “Making health data useful is what we aim to do, and a partnership utilizing this information to help reduce school absenteeism is one we are thrilled to support.”

“The goal is simple – keep kids in school. But to do this we must understand why they are chronically absent. By having the primary care provider reach out, in addition to the school, we are hopeful that the families feel more supported. It’s not punishment, it’s a conversation that hopefully leads to a solution for the child returning to school,” notes Jon Cooper, Director of Health and Wellness, Colonial School District.

School attendance and academic performance impacts children’s future well-being and is linked to long-term health and positive outcomes. Collection of absenteeism data will help address not just the immediate issues at hand for the child and family, it will also provide the data that is needed to evaluate the longer-term impact of programs and interventions.

This new collaboration will:

  • Link attendance to health outcomes for students across all schools in the district.
  • Share data on attendance, with parental consent, with primary care providers through DHIN. This will allow healthcare providers to work directly with parents and schools to improve attendance and determine if there is an underlying reason for missing school. 
  • Permit analysis of attendance data and health data on an anonymized basis to help plan public health interventions to improve attendance. 

Colonial School District has agreed to be the pilot district, but the goal is for more school districts to join the collaborative as soon as possible. While Nemours brought the idea forward and is the project’s convener, the data will be shared with primary care providers throughout the state.

According to Colonial Superintendent Jeff Menzer, “We are trying to design a model that helps to identify students who might be missing a lot of school for a number of different reasons, their asthma is flaring up, they don’t have a ride, they are sharing a computer with their sibling, etc. We want to ensure kids have every opportunity to be in school. This collaboration hopes to enhance the relationship between the schools and the medical community to support our children by identifying barriers and giving them extra supports wherever feasible.”

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Nemours Children’s Health
Nemours Children’s Health is one of the nation’s largest multistate pediatric health systems, including two free-standing children’s hospitals and a network of nearly 80 primary and specialty care practices across five states. Nemours seeks to transform the health of children by adopting a holistic health model that utilizes innovative, safe, and high-quality care, while also caring for the health of the whole child beyond medicine. Nemours also powers the world’s most-visited website for information on the health of children and teens, KidsHealth.org.

The Nemours Foundation, established through the legacy and philanthropy of Alfred I. duPont, provides pediatric clinical care, research, education, advocacy, and prevention programs to the children, families and communities it serves.

Colonial School District
Colonial School District is a Pre-K-12 school district in New Castle, DE which serves approximately 10,000 students in eight elementary schools, three middle schools, one high school (the largest in the state of Delaware), and two special needs schools. Colonial offers innovative programming on all levels. From academically challenging preschool, elementary, and middle school curriculum, language immersion programs, theme-based middle schools, and a comprehensive high school featuring three college-level academics, Colonial leads the state in offering high-quality, cutting-edge programs for students. 

The Data Service Center
The Data Service Center (DSC) is a non-profit technology consortium owned and operated by Colonial and Red Clay Consolidated School Districts. The DSC provides school districts in Delaware with data processing, application development, training, and support services related to the business of schools.  For more than 40 years, DSC has worked closely with Delaware school districts to develop applications specifically addressing their data collection, processing, and reporting needs.  DSC maintains a suite of easy-to-use, reliable, and affordable web-based applications that meet the ever-growing demands of schools and districts.  Each DSC application is a custom solution defined, developed, maintained, and supported by DSC staff through collaboration with Delaware’s school districts/charter schools as well as DOE staff for our State contracts.  Through this work, DSC has developed, not only an extensive knowledge of Delaware’s educational data and processing requirements but also forged personal relationships with Delaware’s district and charter school personnel.  DSC takes pride in the work of making the lives of those in the Delaware School Districts easier.

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).

DHIN Recognized as a DirectTrust Interoperability Hero

November, 2022
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...

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Delaware Health Information Network Announces HITRUST CSF® Certification

DOVER, DE — With cyber threats and organized targeting of healthcare data on the rise across the nation, Delaware Health Information Network (DHIN) reaffirms its commitment to privacy and data security by earning HITRUST CSF Certified status for its results delivery infrastructure.*

The nation’s first operational statewide health information exchange, DHIN previously attained HITRUST CSF certification—the gold standard for measuring and certifying security management programs—in 2017 for several of its service offerings.

HITRUST was created to ensure that information security becomes a core tenet of the technology environment in healthcare organizations throughout the country. Created by healthcare, technology, information security, privacy and compliance leaders, the HITRUST CSF Certification combines requirements from both existing federal and third-party standards and regulations.

Earning HITRUST CSF Certification is a rigorous process. The DHIN team spent nearly a year performing an exhaustive analysis of existing security and privacy practices and strengthening policies and procedures where needed.

“In today’s ever-changing threat landscape, HITRUST is continually innovating to find new and creative approaches to address challenges,” said Jeremy Huval, Chief Innovation Officer, HITRUST. “Delaware Health Information Network’s HITRUST CSF Certification is evidence that they are at the forefront of industry best practices for information risk management and compliance.”

The two-year certification requires continued monitoring of privacy controls, no reportable data security breaches and timely completion of interim reviews, among other milestones.

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

*HITRUST CSF Certified: Mirth Connect and NXT platforms and SFTP server


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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).

DHIN Recognized as a DirectTrust Interoperability Hero

November, 2022
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...

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DHIN Expands Its Clinical Data Pool with Curative

DOVER (February 10, 2021) – Real-time access to patients’ COVID-19 test results is critical to Delaware’s healthcare practitioners, and Delaware Health Information Network (DHIN) is pleased to welcome its newest data sender, Curative. The nascent start-up partnered with the State of Delaware last spring to augment testing efforts statewide, and to date, has processed nearly 800,000 COVID-19 tests for Delawareans.

“Curative is committed to continuously improving access to COVID-19 testing and other services targeted at ending the pandemic,” said Fred Turner, CEO and co-founder of Curative. “We look forward to the continued partnership with the State of Delaware and Delaware Health Information Network in providing convenient, painless access to testing at no cost to patients.”

“The onboarding of Curative as a data sender to DHIN is an important step in the continuity of care,” added Dr. Jan Lee, CEO of Delaware Health Information Network. “Curative joins the State of Delaware’s lab and other private labs in submitting COVID-19 results to DHIN, ensuring that Delaware clinicians have access to this critical information for patient monitoring and follow-up care.”

Unlike a routine lab test, COVID-19 tests can be directed without the requirement of a clinician’s order, and as such, a patient’s physician would likely not receive the results of the test. By adding these results to DHIN’s Community Health Record, healthcare practitioners have secure and on-demand access to the clinical information they need ̶ across time, geography and care settings – to care for their patients. Nearly 11,000 practitioners rely on the Community Health Record, which securely stores over 150 million clinical messages and results.

DHIN’s 36 data senders include hospitals, labs, radiology firms and other health information exchanges, providing clinical results for more than three million patients from all fifty states.

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About Curative

Curative is a leader in on-demand public health service programs and infrastructure. From rapid, mass-scale testing for COVID-19 to other essential services, Curative partners with communities to strengthen public health services with turn-key programs, easy-to-access experiences, and scalable infrastructure, keeping people everywhere safe, healthy, and informed. Co-founded by CEO Fred Turner and comprised of a team of doctors, scientists, engineers, and health industry experts, Curative began COVID-19 testing in early March 2020 upon realizing the urgent need for test development and production in the United States. With a growing network of over 10,000 sites across 15 states and three CLIA certified, high-complexity labs, Curative provides more than 1 million COVID tests a week and is rolling out a suite of other services in partnership with major cities, states, and organizations across the U.S. For more details on Curative, please visit curative.com and follow on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

 

DHIN Recognized as a DirectTrust Interoperability Hero

November, 2022
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...

Read more

DHIN Partners with WOMBA, Enabling Automated Record Retrieval for Insurance Applications & Claims

NEW YORK, NY (August 3, 2020) – WOMBA, LLC, the nation’s leading HIPAA-compliant medical data sharing retriever is pleased to announce its collaboration with Delaware Health Information Network (DHIN).

The first operational statewide health information exchange in the nation, DHIN provides an electronic network through which hospitals, physicians, laboratories and other clinical entities quickly and securely exchange clinical results and reports. Nearly 11,000 practitioners rely on DHIN’s Community Health Record, which securely stores over 150 million clinical messages and results for more than three million patients from fifty states.

Through this collaboration, with patient consent, WOMBA can securely retrieve otherwise disparately located medical data from healthcare providers throughout the state of Delaware and beyond to accelerate the life and disability insurance application process.

Streamlining of the life and disability insurance application process is one benefit of DHIN’s participation in the eHealth Exchange. This national group of federal agencies and non-federal organizations came together under a common mission to improve patient care and public health reporting through secure, trusted and interoperable health information exchange.

“WOMBA’s relationship with DHIN expands upon WOMBA’s geographic capabilities while providing it with another rich source of high-quality medical data. WOMBA’s technology allows for quick, secure records retrieval delivered to our clients in a normalized easy to read format,” said Moti Mitteldorf, CTO of WOMBA.com. “Integration with DHIN is another step in establishing WOMBA as the preeminent global leader in personalized health data retrieval and consolidation,” he added.

“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 collaborate with WOMBA on this consumer-driven tool to share clinical information for insurance underwriting purposes, both providing a service to consumers and fulfilling our mission of making health data useful.”

WOMBA was founded by its CEO, ELI Rowe. WOMBA is the digital arm of PDC, the nation’s leading medical data retriever to the Life, Long Term Care & Disability Insurance industry. PDC/Parameds.com is the trusted entity in the industry with over 30 years’ experience in manual retrieval is now undergoing the paradigm shift enabling real time digital records retrieval. WOMBAs platform enables its hundreds of clients to evaluate the risk profiles of applicants in a transparent and friendly way, while significantly reducing costs, improving the process’ efficiency and accelerating the application process so individuals can receive coverage faster. WOMBA’s cutting edge platform uses advanced AI tools which allows for automated normalization of records from diverse data sources enabling underwriters to review records in an easy to read format.

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About WOMBA LLC
WOMBA is the only all-encompassing solution on the market; including a patient portal with integrated auditable record sharing, a telehealth platform, and a verified third party requester platform all wrapped into one HIPAA compliant solution secured by cutting edge multi-modality biometrics, KYC knowledgebase and powered by artificial intelligence.

DHIN Recognized as a DirectTrust Interoperability Hero

November, 2022
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...

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Governor Carney Announces Statewide Contact Tracing Program for COVID-19

WILMINGTON, Del. (May 12, 2020) – Governor John Carney on Tuesday announced that the State of Delaware entered into an agreement with the nonpartisan research institution NORC at the University of Chicago to build Delaware’s statewide contact tracing program to contain COVID-19, limit Delawareans’ exposure to the disease, and restart Delaware’s economy.

The contact tracing program builds on Delaware’s statewide plan to test up to 80,000 Delawareans monthly for COVID-19. Expanded testing and contact tracing efforts are key to reopening Delaware’s economy under guidance from the White House and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

NORC also has partnered with the State of Maryland to perform contact tracing. Delaware and Maryland will share information to more effectively monitor COVID-19’s spread across state lines.

Approximately 200 Delawareans will be hired as contact tracers and support staff.
Applications for contact tracers and other associated positions will be posted at de.gov/coronavirus in the coming weeks.

“To safely reopen our economy, we need to be able to quickly identify positive COVID-19 cases and reach out to those residents who may have been exposed. This contact tracing program brings us one step closer to returning Delaware to a new normal,” said Governor Carney. “We’ve been working with Maryland to coordinate our reopening efforts, and this partnership will build on that collaboration. Going forward, hiring a contact tracing workforce of Delawareans that reflects the diversity of our state will be a top priority.”

“This is a critically important complement to the statewide testing plan the Governor announced last week and the two plans are really integrally linked,” said DPH Director Dr. Karyl Rattay. “Contact tracing is a basic public health practice for containing an epidemiological event by talking with the person who is infected and reaching out to their contacts in order to decrease transmission. It will help us track positive cases of COVID-19 and limit the spread of the virus both short-term and long-term.”

“One of our highest priorities is making sure that our workforce of contact tracers reflects the entire community we serve,” said Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS) Secretary Dr. Kara Odom Walker, a practicing family physician. “When positive cases of COVID-19 are identified through widespread community testing, our tracers will need to work quickly to talk with known contacts and help them self-quarantine with any necessary supports.”

“We are proud to be part of Delaware’s solution for COVID contact tracing during this critical time in the state’s history,” said David Cotton, PhD, NORCs project director for this effort. “We are bringing to bear our decades of experience with high volume, scientifically rigorous data collection and public health expertise to help the State and DHSS stem the tide of new infections.”

Over the next week – as the State of Delaware scales up its contact tracing operation – 100 members of the Delaware National Guard will embed with the Division of Public Health to begin wide-scale, statewide contact tracing.

National Guardsmen and women began their training on Monday.

“I’m proud of our Delaware National Guard Citizen Soldiers and Airmen who volunteered to serve the state in this mission,” said Major General Michael R. Berry, Adjutant General of the Delaware National Guard. “Our Guardsmen and women live in these communities and are best positioned to assist DPH with such a critical role to help fight the spread of COVID-19 in Delaware.”

Under Delaware’s contact tracing program, Delawareans who have tested positive for COVID-19 should expect a phone call from a case investigator asking for information which includes a list of the person’s known contacts. Contact tracers will then reach out to each of those contacts to help them safely quarantine, to find alternate arrangements as necessary, and to help them get tested for COVID-19, if recommended.

Delawareans who need extra support to safely self-quarantine – such as grocery delivery or alternative housing – will be referred to a network of local community health workers. Healthy Communities Delaware will coordinate the community health worker effort, in partnership with community-based organizations.

“Healthy Communities Delaware believes that using community-based partnerships and providing necessary and life-sustaining resources and other social services supports directly to those individuals in vulnerable communities who are most impacted by COVID-19 is paramount in reducing the spread of this disease in our state,” said Rita Landgraf, Managerial Partner for Healthy Communities Delaware, University of Delaware Partnership for Healthy Communities.

The Delaware Department of Technology and Information will work with NORC’s technology partner, Enovational, and the Delaware Health Information Network to build a technology platform that allows the Division of Public Health to efficiently share data with contact tracers.

“Technology has played a critical role during this pandemic to gather, track, and share data,” said Chief Information Officer James Collins of the Delaware Department of Technology and Information. “In the hands of contact tracers, it will be an invaluable force multiplier that helps prevent the spread of COVID-19 and save lives.”

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About NORC
From 2015 to 2020, NORC has conducted more than 3 million hours of telephone interviews. A significant portion of those interviews were in support of major public health-related studies such as the National Immunization Survey, which NORC conducts for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey, which NORC conducts for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services; and the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project, which NORC conducts for the National Institutes of Health.

Many of these studies involve nuanced, carefully scripted conversations about sensitive health issues, and interviewees are often members of underrepresented or difficult-to-reach demographic groups. Through these and similar studies, NORC has derived significant methodological expertise, including how best to deploy and integrate different modes of data collection and the technologies that support them.

Anyone with a question about COVID-19, whether related to medical or social service needs, should call Delaware 2-1-1. Individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing can text their ZIP code to 898-211. Hours of operation are 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday; 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

Questions can also be submitted by email at DPHCall@delaware.gov. DPH will continue to update the public as more information becomes available. For the latest on Delaware’s response, go to de.gov/coronavirus.

DHIN Recognized as a DirectTrust Interoperability Hero

November, 2022
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...

Read more

DHIN Expands Its Clinical Data Pool

DOVER (March 3, 2020) – Delaware Health Information Network (DHIN) is pleased to welcome two new data senders to the network. The addition of Delaware Diagnostic Labs and Poplar Healthcare increases the amount of clinical data available in DHIN’s Community Health Record and expands the resources necessary for care coordination.

The first operational statewide health information exchange in the nation, DHIN provides an electronic network through which hospitals, physicians, labs and other clinical entities quickly and securely exchange clinical results and reports. Since its inception in 2007, DHIN has evolved to offer nearly twenty distinct services, in addition to results delivery, to the healthcare community.

One of those services is DHIN’s Community Health Record, which gives healthcare practitioners secure and on-demand access to the clinical information they need ̶ across time, geography and care settings ̶ to care for their patients.

To date, nearly 11,000 practitioners rely on the Community Health Record, which securely stores over 150 million clinical messages and results.

“Adding Delaware Diagnostic Labs and Poplar Healthcare as data senders to DHIN means more patients will benefit from their clinical records being available to the healthcare practitioners who need that information to render care,” said Dr. Jan Lee, DHIN’s Chief Executive Officer.

Based in Newark, Delaware Diagnostic Labs is a full-service lab providing hematology, chemistry, toxicology, immunology and virology testing.

Headquartered in Memphis, TN, Poplar Healthcare provides specialized lab testing services to a nationwide client base of gastroenterologists, dermatologists, oncologists, urologists, gynecologists and their patients through its GI Pathology, D-PATH, Oncometrix, Bostwick Laboratories and Women’s Health Laboratories divisions.

“We are pleased to participate with DHIN by providing access to anatomic and molecular pathology reports and associated data within DHIN’s Community Health Record. We share in the belief that broad access to laboratory data improves care coordination and helps reduce the overall cost of care,” stated James P. Sweeney, Poplar Healthcare’s Chief Executive Officer.

To date, DHIN has partnered with 35 data senders, including hospitals, labs, radiology firms and other health information exchanges, to provide clinical results for more than three million patients from all fifty states.

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DHIN Recognized as a DirectTrust Interoperability Hero

November, 2022
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...

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Funding Available to Connect Small PCPs to DHIN

NEW CASTLE (October 9, 2019) – The Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS) is seeking applications from Delaware healthcare providers for one-time, health information exchange (HIE) support mini-grants to adopt the full range of health information exchange tools offered by Delaware Health Information Network (DHIN).

Delaware’s health information exchange, DHIN, holds nearly three million patient records. Additionally, DHIN allows the safe and secure delivery of clinical results and reports for patients, along with admission and discharge data from all Delaware acute-care settings and more than 46 long-term care facilities.

Eligible mini-grant applicants include small primary care and other medical practices, behavioral health providers, accountable care organizations and federally qualified health centers that are not adopting the full range of health information exchange tools offered by DHIN.

All applicants must be licensed in Delaware and must provide a valid medical license where applicable. Applications will be evaluated by the Delaware Health Care Commission (DHCC).

“This mini-grant opportunity will help primary care practices to serve their patients more effectively by enriching the electronic data they have available for each patient,” said Department of Health and Social Services Secretary Dr. Kara Odom Walker, a practicing family physician.

“The mini-grants also will help primary care practices to prepare for value-based care and improving health, which are critical to reducing the overall cost of health care across the spectrum.”

“DHIN is thrilled to work with the Department of Health and Social Services to bring data services to the healthcare providers of Delaware in support of treatment decisions at the point of care, as well as care coordination, patient engagement and data analytics,” said Dr. Jan Lee, CEO, Delaware Health Information Network.

This mini-grant is an opportunity for practices to expand their use of data as a lever in preparation for new payment models, including total cost of care and risk-sharing arrangements by having connectivity with DHIN.

To achieve this outcome, these mini-grants will support investments in EMRs (Electronic Medical Records), proper technology infrastructure, and DHIN-bundled services, with the ultimate goal of contributing data to and receiving data from DHIN.
This one-time funding is being offered to assist medical practices to adopt the full range of health information exchange tools offered by DHIN, including:
• Access to the Community Health Record (CHR), the longitudinal view of each patient’s health data regardless of place and date of service.
• A results-delivery interface that enables DHIN to securely deliver all result types from all data senders directly into the provider’s EMR.
• Care summary exchange, which enables the provider to send a summary of each clinical encounter to DHIN, thus enriching the data within the CHR for all users.
• Event Notification Service, by which DHIN can notify the provider or a designated care coordinator of admissions or discharges of their patients to approximately 200 hospitals, emergency departments (EDs) and other care settings across Delaware, Maryland, parts of West Virginia, District of Columbia, southern New Jersey and selected Pennsylvania EDs.
• Patient Portal/Personal Health Record (PHR), co-branded for the practice, by which a participating patient can view all their health data submitted to DHIN by all sources. (DHIN’s PHR is certified by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology to meet all requirements for patient engagement under Meaningful Use and the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System.)
• Medication History, activated through the CHR, which enables on-demand retrieval of a 12-month prescription fill history, thus facilitating medication reconciliation.
The Delaware Health Care Commission is prepared to award up to 25 applicants in varying amounts, with the maximum award total of $8,000, to assist practices with start-up costs. Funding is made available through the Department of Health and Social Services’ Fiscal Year 2020 budget.

The DHCC will accept applications on a rolling admission and are due no later than November 30, 2019. Applications will be evaluated and considered as they are received. Final notifications of award will be sent by December 15, 2019. All questions and final applications must be submitted by email to DHCC@delaware.gov.

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

 

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