HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt has announced the award of contracts totaling $22.5 million to nine health information exchanges (HIEs) to begin trial implementations of the Nationwide Health Information Network (NHIN).

These contracts will create a secure foundation for basic health information exchange between select HIEs upon which more complex functions will be possible over time. This work will advance the nation toward the President's goal of most Americans having access to secure electronic health records by 2014, by creating a secure foundation for health information exchange that can follow Americans throughout their lives.

"These trial implementations are taking place in communities across America that are leading the way to health care transformation using secure, interoperable health information technology," Secretary Leavitt said. "Trial implementations of the Nationwide Health Information Network will bring us steps closer to a health IT system that will improve quality of care, increase efficiencies in health care, and improve disease prevention."
Awardees include the following organizations, representing broad-based state and regional health information exchanges:

CareSpark -- Tricities region of Eastern Tennessee and Southwestern Virginia
Delaware Health Information Network -- Delaware
Indiana University -- Indianapolis metroplex
Long Beach Network for Health -- Long Beach and Los Angeles, California
Lovelace Clinic Foundation -- New Mexico
MedVirginia -- Central Virginia
New York eHealth Collaborative -- New York
North Carolina Healthcare Information and Communications Alliance, Inc. -- North Carolina
West Virginia Health Information Network -- West Virginia

These contractors will participate in the NHIN Cooperative -- a collaborative to test and demonstrate the exchange of private and secure health information among providers, patients and other health care stakeholders.

"The NHIN trial implementations are another important step toward improving health and care of individuals and communities and to continue to modernize health care delivery," said Dr. Robert Kolodner, national coordinator for health information technology.

HHS' Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to announce contract awards in December, 2007, that will complement these efforts to further develop the NHIN. This joint work will ensure that health information exchanges using the NHIN infrastructure can support the community-based activities of public health agencies.

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