Missouri health information exchange bills panned

KERFUFFLE IN MISSOURI OVER HIE BILLS: Controversy is brewing in the Missouri legislature over a bill that would create a health information commission empowered to dictate health information standards and regulate “health information organizations.” Mike Dittemore, executive director of the Lewis and Clark Information Exchange in neighboring Kansas, says the commission would “mandate good behavior” in an industry known to have some bad actors. He tells Morning eHealth that data flow in Missouri is still siloed and the new regulator would expedite the exchange of patient records. He points to Kansas as a good example of a state doing things right and says linking the two states, which share Kansas City, has been extremely difficult. — But it’s not so simple, says Angie Bass, chief operating officer of the Missouri Health Connection. The precise powers of the new state-wide commission aren’t yet clear and that’s scary Bass said. In addition, it could interfere with federal standards. “We feel like there isn’t a problem to be solved and this is an overreach of government,” Bass told us. For the full article click here 

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