COHIE

working toward HIE in central Ohio

COHIE remains focused on achieving its goal of assisting at least 1,352 primary care providers adopt and implement electronic health records and achieve Stage 1 Meaningful Use through the Regional Extension Center program.  To date, COHIE has been widely successful in this initiative, and has achieved the largest number of primary care provider signups across the state of Ohio. 

Recently COHIE has expanded its focus on  efforts to establish a health information exchange (HIE) for the central Ohio community of providers and stakeholders.  The COHIE Board has formed an HIE subcommittee, comprised of representatives from Central Ohio Hospital Council, The Ohio State University Medical Center, Central Ohio Primary Care, Berger Health System, and Mount Carmel Health System, to undertake a vetting process to assist the Board with the selection of an HIE.  Currently, the subcommittee is analyzing and evaluating the value-added features of HIE solutions provided by CliniSync, a start-up HIE of the Ohio Health Information Partnership, and HealthBridge, an HIE founded in 1997 in southeastern Ohio, as well as discussing other options.  As the HIE subcommittee further refines this selection process, it is expected that both HIE vendors will provide follow-up information and presentations to COHIE’s board of directors, as COHIE gets closer to establishing an HIE for the community.

Central Ohio Health Information Exchange (COHIE) - Formed to make EHR adoption easier

In an effort to encourage widespread adoption of electronic health records (EHR), federal stimulus dollars were included in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) passed in 2009. The stimulus monies were distributed to each state in early 2010, with each state designating a non-profit Regional Extension Center (REC) to assist medical professionals in the process of adopting, implementing and reaching “meaningful use” of their systems. The Ohio Health Information Partnership (OHIP) was designated as Ohio’s REC. To assist in the effort, OHIP identified eight Regional Partners throughout the state to serve as the “technical arms” of the effort. The Central Ohio Health Information Exchange (COHIE) was identified as a Regional Partner and will serve 14 counties in central Ohio.

What do I do next?

Contact COHIE Interim Director Tim Bangert at 614-384-9174 or email him at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it to find out more about what COHIE has to offer your practice