Utah

Project Overview | Data and Functionality | Technical Design and Architecture 

Project Overview

The Utah Health Information Network (UHIN) is a broad-based coalition of health care insurers, providers, and other interested parties, including State government. UHIN participants have come together for the common goal of reducing health care administrative costs through data standardization of administrative health data and electronic commerce.

Partners

The UHIN partnership is composed of the following institutions: Altius/Coventry, Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators, Educators Mutual Insurance Association, HealthInsight, IASIS, select health, Intermountain HealthCare, Mt. Star, Public Employees Health Program (CHIP), Regence Blue Cross Blue Shield of Utah, State Farm Insurance Company, Utah Hospitals & Health Systems Assoc., Utah Department of Health, Utah Medical Association, University of Utah Health Sciences Center, Valley Mental Health, and Workers Compensation Fund of Utah.

Scope

Statewide

Stakeholders

Stakeholders include health care providers, insurers, payers, and other interested parties, including State government.

Goal

The principal goal of UHIN is to minimize costs of consumer health care and improve overall health care quality by facilitating the development of a secure network through which health care transactions pass.

State and Local Involvement

The State Department of Health is a member of the Network. The State chief information officer (CIO) is a UHIN Board member and participates in UHIN activities.

Funding

• Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality SRD Contract ($5 million)
• UHIN

Data and Functionality

UHIN is piloting or planning to exchange the following types of data:

• Medication History
• Discharge Summaries
• History and Physicals
• Lab Results
• Administrative Health Data
  • Claims
  • Remittance
  • Eligibility

UHIN will provide the following functions and services:

• Clinical messaging (from provider to provider)
  • Data including: medication history, discharge summaries, history and physicals and lab results
• Administrative (from provider to payer)
  • Attachments for Claims and Prior Authorizations

Technical Design and Architecture

UHIN has developed the UHINet, a clinical exchange tool that connects senders and receivers. Messages are delivered as a PDF or in HL7, which avoids the issue of a provider who does not have HL7 capacity. It includes a "stall and forward" function, which holds a message if the designated recipient is not currently up on the server. It solves the problem of low electronic medical record (EMR) adoption. The format of the data is decided by the providers sending and receiving the messages. In this way, UHIN functions as a Value Added Network and not a clearinghouse. A pilot between five hospitals, two clinics and four payers is currently being run, with the exchange of discharge summaries, history and physicals, and lab results in HL7 format.

Utah's efforts are based on the UHIN claims data network and focuses on attachments to transactions. They are connected to all physicians in the State via UHINet. 

Data Exchange Standards Used

The project seeks to lower the barrier of participation by taking data in whatever format is available and translating it into a more standard format. With the use of this standard format and data from across institutions, the value of evolving to these standards will become more self-evident to the delivery community and will be adopted.

• HL7 (Health Level 7)
• PDF (Portable Document Format)
• DICOM (medical images)
• NCPDP (National Council for Prescription Drug Programs)