3M, ICW to build Louisville health information exchange

The Louisville Health Information Exchange (LouHIE) has selected 3M Health Information Systems to provide the EHR banking system and interoperability solution to enable health information exchange (HIE) across the greater Louisville area.

The Salt Lake City-based 3M and its partner, InterComponentWare (ICW) will design, build and pilot an integrated health information network that will offer free health record banking services to the 1.2 million citizens in the greater Louisville community. The parties will be negotiating a definitive agreement.

When implemented, the LouHIE initiative will enable consumers to store and manage their patient data in a private and secure personal health record bank. Each bank account will contain an electronic copy of an individual's health records, consolidated from the various clinics, hospitals, and physician practices where the individual received care. Each individual will control his/her health record bank information and will be able to choose to make the complete record available to providers at healthcare facilities in the greater Louisville area or access their own record via the internet. The LouHIE project is expected to be a model for other cities, regions and states that want to create HIEs based on a centralized health record bank.

For the project, 3M will deliver an interoperable system that includes the 3M Clinical Data Repository, 3M Enterprise Master Person Index and 3M Healthcare Data Dictionary. The Wayne, Pa.-based ICW will provide the interoperability layer, consumer/physician portal with the ICW Professional Suite and the personal health record, LifeSensor.