The West Virginia Health Information Network (WVHIN) has launched a statewide health information exchange (HIE) system, the public-private partnership announced recently. The HIE is launched with early adopters across Medicaid, Public Health, and provider networks, Wheeling Hospitals and West Virginia University Healthcare (WVUH) as the selected pilot sites.

The HIE will make clinical information available such as lab results, diagnosis history, allergies, and patient visit history on more than 2.1 million patients. The vendor responsible for the HIE network is the Ann Arbor, Mich.-based, Truven Health Analytics, formerly the healthcare business of Thomson Reuters,

Truven says its network captures data from EMRs, healthcare claims, West Virginia Medicaid Services, and the WV State Immunization Registry, and also links to the West Virginia e-Directive Registry. This would make it the first HIE to integrate end of life care choices made by patients, giving providers access to living wills, durable medical power of attorney, and other end of life care-related documents, WVHIN says.

”Implementing our HIE at Wheeling Hospitals and WVU Healthcare allows us to quickly achieve unparalleled interoperability throughout our state’s facilities,” Phil Weikle, COO at WVHIN, said in a statement. “This brings us closer to care coordination, improved care, reduced cost, and improved communication across the care continuum."

WVHIN says it is focused on expanding to additional providers, and expects to greatly improve the overall health and cost of healthcare for West Virginians over time.