New York State Announces Statewide Network for Health Care Records

NEW YORK — The New York eHealth Collaborative (NYeC), along with the New York State Department of Health, announced that three Regional Health Information Organizations (RHIOs) and three health information exchange (HIE) vendors will participate in the Statewide Health Information Network of New York, (SHIN-NY) which will function similarly to a public utility.

The RHIOs include Brooklyn Health Information Exchange, e-Health Network of Long Island, and THINC, and the HIE vendors of HealthUnity, IBM, and InterSystems, have each formally joined forces with NYeC to facilitate HIE across New York’s downstate region — comprised of New York City’s five boroughs, Long Island, and the Hudson Valley and with a combined population of 13 million.

This collaboration represents a significant step in that it formalizes the creation of a single, unified statewide network for health care records. The SHIN-NY is coordinated by NYeC and will unify existing state HIE initiatives, such as within hospital systems and local RHIOs, making electronic health records secure and accessible to health care providers statewide — improving patient care and lowering costs.

New York has long been a leader in health IT investment and implementation, said New York State Health Commissioner Nirav R. Shah, M.D., M.P.H. The announcement is the next step in the creation of a robust 21st century health care system that will better serve the people of New York, he said.