Sequoia Project launches cooperative to facilitate healthIT Interoperability
Sequoia establishes Interoperability Matters, a public-private cooperative to provide a realistic solution to interoperability and health information exchange.
The Sequoia Project, which was formerly known as Healtheway was catered towards the safe ways of exchanging healthcare-related information. It supports health IT interoperability developments like the eHealth Exchange where the community of people actively exchanges information under a trust that is bounded by rules. Another forum developed by the Sequoia Project is Carequality which was incepted for existing information networks for technical specifications and optimized practices, almost like how the telecommunication industry developed a cell phone linking system.
The Sequoia Project is a non-profit organization that now works towards the eradication of health IT interoperability problems. Their work is centered around the development of the safe exchange of health-related information and interoperability across nations.
With the help of experts from the fields of health and healthcare IT, they launched the Interoperability Matters, a public-private cooperative.
This group is aimed at prioritizing problems that need special detailed attention for nations to move towards better health information exchange. They will identify matters where national health information and data exchange can improve and manifest strategies to do the same and also for interoperability.
The groups will consist of healthcare experts and professionals, government officials and important personnel from within the private sector. The group is dedicatedly supposed to meet at regular time intervals to review the work of the workgroups and give their feedback and input. After the input of the advisory board is taken under consideration, the work will be shared with the public for their opinions.
This is a very vital part of the program. It is of utmost importance to obtain the feedback from those who this work is being done for. The final work comprises of a ‘consensus built resource plan of action’ for the health industry for it to move towards eliminating the problem that was under scrutiny.
The first topic taken on the Interoperability Matters is that of blocking information regarding health IT. It was proposed by the Health and Human Services Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology. This will be the priority topic of discussion at the next Sequoia Project meeting, and special workgroups will be formed to deal with the solution for this matter.
The Sequoia Project is persuading those in the healthcare and healthcare IT industries to actively participate in the Interoperability Matters regardless of their association with the Sequoia Project.
Before the inception of the Interoperability Matters, the Sequoia Project created a patient identity management workgroup. This success of this forum led to the development of the Interoperability Matters.
At the next Sequoia Project annual meeting that is scheduled to be held in November, there will be more matters for which workgroups will be formed.
This new project is definitely going to have a lot of innovations for the public. It is going to help the people a lot and for sure bring a change that everyone was waiting for the IT Healthcare industry.
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