The Reston, Va.-based Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange (WEDI), a non-profit organization formed by the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), has announced that it will extend free membership for all federal and state government agencies and their corresponding departments.

Through the new membership program, government agencies will have free access to participate in WEDI’s 40-plus workgroups on health IT industry topics, WEDI’s public forums (policy advisory groups) and WEDI virtual events. The agencies will also receive discounted rates to WEDI’s on-site conferences.

Under the new program, all federal and state government agencies and departments will be granted access to:

• Whitepapers, issue briefs and webinars
• Networking opportunities
• Industry best practices
• Opportunities to influence the direction of Health IT policy through WEDI’s Policy Advisory Groups
• Regular updates on regulatory, legislative and standards changes
• Industry news bulletins, daily newsletters and webinars  

“Government agencies are a critical partner in our common goal to streamline healthcare information exchange in order to improve the overall efficiency and quality of the American healthcare system,” Devin Jopp, WEDI's president and CEO, said in a statement. "The free government agency membership will provide greater opportunities for the states to benefit from industry best practices and will offer them a greater voice in helping to shape the future of health IT policy”.

WEDI’s membership includes a broad coalition of organizations, including: hospitals, providers, health plans, vendors, government agencies, consumers, not-for-profit organizations and standards bodies.