EMI Advisors Partners With UCSF to Support ONC STAR HIE Program
WASHINGTON, DC; Dec. 8, 2020 — EMI Advisors has partnered with the Center for Clinical Informatics and Improvement Research (CLIIR) and the Center for Digital Health Innovation (CDHI) at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) to support the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology’s (ONC) Strengthening the Technical Advancement and Readiness of Public Health via Health Information Exchange Program (STAR HIE Program). The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services awarded cooperative agreements to five (5) health information exchange organizations (HIEs) to help support state and local public health agencies in their efforts to respond to public health emergencies including disasters and pandemics such as COVID-19. The STAR HIE Program recipients are: the Georgia Health Information Network (GaHIN); Health Current (Arizona); Healthshare Exchange of Southeastern Pennsylvania (HSX); Kansas Health Information Network, Inc. (KHIN) d/b/a KONZA; and the Texas Health Services Authority (THSA).
EMI Advisors has been awarded the Technical Assistance and Evaluation contract, from ONC, to provide recipients with technical assistance provision, development of program resources and knowledge products, and support of group learning activities. “The STAR HIE Program will improve HIE services so that public health agencies can better access, share, and use health information during public health emergencies. The program also has the objective of improving the health information exchange services available to support communities disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Evelyn Gallego, CEO of EMI Advisors. “I am honored that EMI Advisors and our partners at UCSF have been selected to support ONC and the recipients on this important work,.
Julia Adler-Milstein, PhD, Professor of Medicine and Director of CLIIR, and Mark Savage, JD, Director of Health Policy for CDHI, will lead the evaluation component of the contract. They will develop an independent qualitative and quantitative assessment of the recipients’ program efforts and impact. Dr. Adler-Milstein is a leading researcher in health IT policy with a specific focus on health information exchange and interoperability. Mark Savage leads health policy strategy and development for CDHI and its programs to advance interoperability, access, delivery reform, and health equity nationwide.
According to Dr. Adler-Milstein, “Evaluating the progress made by the STAR HIE Program recipients will help create generalizable lessons about what works and how to extend the impact across the country. Our UCSF team is highly experienced in evaluating varied HIE programs and looks forward to leveraging the breadth and depth of this expertise for the STAR HIE Program.”
About EMI Advisors
EMI Advisors is a boutique consulting firm that specializes in assisting public and private clients bridge the gap between health and human services policies, technology innovation and business requirements.
About UCSF
The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is exclusively focused on the health sciences and is dedicated to promoting health worldwide through advanced biomedical research, graduate-level education in the life sciences and health professions, and excellence in patient care. UCSF Health, which serves as UCSF’s primary academic medical center, includes top-ranked specialty hospitals and other clinical programs, and has affiliations throughout the Bay Area.
About ONC STAR HIE Program
To learn more about the ONC STAR HIE Program, please visit: https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2020/09/30/hhs-announces-funding-for-health-information-exchanges-to-support-public-health-agencies.html