Project Overview | Data and Functionality | Technical Design and Architecture
Project Overview
The Rhode Island Quality Institute (RIQI) is a non-profit organization founded in 2001 as a collaborative effort among a vast array of members of the health care community to improve health care quality, safety, and value in Rhode Island. The goals of RIQI include the following: (1) determine Rhode Island's unique characteristics that could be used to improve the State's health care system; (2) further develop a patient -- health care team relationship; (3) improve quality of health care by way of health information technology and; (4) to implement best practices in the healthcare community.
Partners
RIQI is a collaborative effort among health care providers, health insurers, consumers, business, academe, and government. Some community partners include: Quality Partners of Rhode Island (Rhode Island's QIO), Clarendon Group, Brown University, Rhode Island Department of Health, Rhode Island Health Center Association, and East Side Clinical Laboratory.
Scope
Statewide
Stakeholders
Stakeholders include patients, providers, policymakers, researchers, and the public health community.
Goal
The principal goal of RIQI, under the AHRQ-funded SRD contract, is to improve healthcare in the State of Rhode Island by developing, implementing, and evaluating an interconnected statewide health information system that uses a Master Patient Index as a central component to put the right information into the hands of clinicians and their patients when and where it is needed.
State and Local Involvement
RIQI serves as the governing body for the Rhode Island Department of Health's AHRQ SRD contract. In addition to being funded by AHRQ, by State law the project must also be funded by State and private monies. Several members of State government entities serve in leadership positions, including representatives from the Office of Health and Human Services, the Department of Health, and the Lt. Governor of Rhode Island. The Rhode Island Department of Health and the Division of Information Technology are currently working in partnership with RIQI on the first release of a health information exchange system.
Funding
- Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality SRD Contract ($5 million)
- Foundation for eHealth Initiative
- State of Rhode Island
- Additional public sector support
Data and Functionality
The RI SRD project is initially piloting the exchange of the following types of data:
- Laboratory
- Clinical Lab tests
- Pharmacy
- Summary of prescription medications dispensed, summary of medication history
- Allergies
- Medication only
- Utilization
- Hospitalization
- ER use
- Some ambulatory use (health center & outpatient clinic)
- Childhood Health
- Lead
- Newborn screening
- Newborn hearing
- Immunization
- Future data enhancements
- Radiology
- EKG
- All allergies
- Other relevant clinical data
Initially, the RI SRD will provide the following functions and services:
- Point of care (for patients and/or providers)
- Interfaces with EMR systems
- Decision support functionality
- Consumer control of data
- Web-based patient portal (consumers monitor access to their data)
- Clinical Messaging (from provider to provider)
- Electronic prescribing
- Exchange of laboratory history & medication history data
- Populations/public health (for provider, payer, and/or public health)
- Clinical data repository for use of aggregate data
Technical Design and Architecture
Data sharing architecture will include core Master Patient Index (MPI) functions that will locate the identifiers indicating where a patient's health information is stored.
Data from various sources will be presented in an integrated, patient-centric manner using a common user interface (portal or local platform). Consumers will be allowed to control access to their data. The system will be designed so consumers can decided when and to whom they want to share their health information with.
There will also be decision support capability to the data when it is in an integrated format so the system will have the ability to prompt providers on suggested or needed tests and services, identify adverse interactions, and so on. Users of the system will also have the ability to aggregate and utilize data for public health purposes including population-based analysis, quality improvement, evaluation, surveillance, research, and so on.
The AHRQ SRD contract will be used to establish a sound foundation for the creation of a full-fledged HIE system that will focus on the exchange of Laboratory and Medication History data. The initiative may eventually include interfaces with electronic medical records (EMRs), decision support functionality, creation of a clinical data repository for use of aggregate data, additional pilot test sites and data sharing partners, additional types of data (Reports, CCR, ICD, CPT, and so on), or a Web-based Patient Portal for consumers to monitor access to their data, but these items will fall outside the AHRQ-funded portion of RIQI's scope.
Data Exchange Standards Used
Key Information
Rhode Island Department of Health
3 Capitol Hill
Providence, RI