WEDI-NATE Partnership Means Another Step Toward Healthcare IT Interoperability

By Megan Williams, contributing writer

The Workgroup For Electronic Data Interchange (WEDI) and the National Association For Trusted Exchange (NATE) have teamed up to support development of the Virtual Clipboard Initiative and research that promotes healthcare interoperability. It was announced by KATV that WEDI and NATE would be combining their resources to move into the second phase of the Virtual Clipboard Initiative.

What Is Virtual Clipboard?

More than 40 representatives from major providers, health plans, HIT vendors, healthcare organizations, and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) assembled last year to launch development of an industry blueprint for a virtual clipboard mobile application. The application is meant to streamline the patient intake process, including the automation of the collection of health insurance and demographic information.

The Virtual Clipboard was originally built off recommendations in the 2013 WEDI Report by The Sullivan Institute for Healthcare Innovation and is intended to leverage advanced technologies to enhance the patient experience while improving patient safety.

Partner Perspectives

WEDI, the nation’s leading nonprofit authority on the use of health IT to create efficiencies in healthcare information exchange, has a positive outlook on the partnership. According to president and CEO, Devin Jopp, Ed.D., “Our collaboration with NATE is instrumental to our mission as we work to broaden interoperability in healthcare technology in a consistent manner across all stakeholders in the industry. The expertise of NATE’s leaders, membership and partnering stakeholders will be invaluable as we further the Virtual Clipboard Initiative into the next phase of the program.”

NATE, the nation’s leading nonprofit authority in consumer-mediated electronic health information exchange, expressed a similar perspective. CEO Aaron Seib weighed in, “This is an important partnership for our industry, and one that will afford tremendous advantages to the members of both organizations. We are confident that the synergies of our organizations will produce amazing returns as we look to enhance the use of additional interoperable technologies that include the consumer, bringing about a new era in healthcare.”

The partnership is nothing new to HIMSS, who has a history of working with other organizations to tackle initiatives, “For years, HIMSS has worked with its members on patient record matching and patient data integrity,” says Lisa Gallagher, vice president of technology solutions at HIMSS. “We anticipate that this project will address data quality in a significant way and deliver a near-term, real solution for patients and the industry alike.”