What Is Health Information Organization (HIO)?

It's official: the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009 are here to stay. For those who don't know, ARRA is a stimulus bill passed in 2009. It provided billions of dollars to help states develop electronic health records (EHRs), essentially computerized medical records. This money was given out in incentive payments to hospitals and doctors who used EHRs as part of their practices and all this money was supposed to be spent by June 30th, 2010. But what happens now? Will these organizations that received EHR funding still receive money? The answer is yes, but the details of how much they will receive and what they'll have to do with it may change! Health information organizations (HIOs) have been established at the federal level by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). These organizations are tasked with guiding how best to use funds from ARRA for EHR development through education programs, Webinars and other educational materials. They also focus on interoperability and exchange among medical facilities per ARRA requirements for EHR use. HIOs can function at both state and local levels as well. Regarding EHRs, there are many ways to skin the cat. In addition to private vendors like Epic, Cerner, and Allscripts that offer proprietary products, health information organizations (HIOs) provide free services for providers looking to meet meaningful use requirements. HIOs can serve as a replacement for private EHR vendors because they provide free information for medical facilities working toward electronic record-keeping. However, the primary purpose of an HIO is to assist in the interoperability of EHRs as deemed necessary for meaningful information exchanges. HIOs are able to direct eligible providers through the many stages of development in the generation of electronic health records (EHR) and educate them on the requirements imposed by ARRA and other organisations and regulations.