August 2022

Northside Hospital Joins GaHIN

Northside Hospital, one of the largest hospitals in Georgia, has become a member of GaHIN. The hospital system serves 25 counties with five acute-care hospitals, more than 250 outpatient facilities, 4,100 providers and 25,500 employees.

Prior to its acquisition by Northside, Gwinnett Medical Center was a member of GaHIN.

Four member connections have completed recently; new connections are GRAChIE, Harbin Clinic, Northside Hospital and Peach State. HealtHIE Georgia will begin their testing in September. 

ADT Alerts

Testing is currently underway with the state’s three care management organizations, Amerigroup, CareSource and Peach State, as well as with regional HIEs HealtHIE Georgia and HI-BRIDGE HIE. 

COVID Reporting

Data submission has been re-established with the Georgia Department of Community Health and GaHIN is in the process of sending all files submitted to date. HI-BRIDGE HIE is currently submitting data for 14 correctional facilities and two pediatric practices.

Don’t forget, GaHIN’s electronic case reporting (eCR) through GeorgiaDirect is also available to help members streamline reporting. HealtheConnection is currently using the eCR service to submit data for their member hospitals and physician practices.

Registry Reporting

Technical connectivity has been established with the Department of Public Health and file submission validation is taking place for the Birth Defects Registry.

State Hub

GaHIN has agreed to become a statewide hub for the eClinicalWorks (eCW) EHR. Not only will this enable United Digestive to connect to GaHIN again, but it will simplify the connection process for other users of the eCW system.

GaHIN members on the GeorgiaConnX query and retrieve platform:

• CareSource
• Children's Healthcare of Atlanta
• Emory Healthcare
• Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities
• GRAChIE
• Grady Health System
• Harbin Clinic
• HealtheConnection
• HI-BRIDGE HIE
• Northside Hospital
• Peach State
• Wellstar Health System

A Report From the Civitas Annual Meeting 

Three members of GaHIN’s team – Dr. Denise Hines, Benita Bowers and Sonya Peacock, recently attended the Civitas Networks for Health 2022 Annual Conference. Civitas was formed in 2021 when the Network for Regional Healthcare Improvement (NRHI) and the Strategic Health Information Exchange Collaborative (SHIEC) combined forces.

Dr. Hines, Executive Director of GaHIN, was part of a panel on “Federal Programs Catalyzing Health Equity Initiatives.”

The three GaHIN attendees praised the conference for bringing together HIEs seeking opportunities to learn from and partner with similar organizations. “It was amazing to feel like we were back in pre-COVID times,” said Dr. Hines. “The presentations, exhibitor hall and networking were outstanding and directly applicable to the work we do every day.”