WASHINGTON – The Department of Health Care Finance, the District of Columbia's state Medicaid agency, is implementing a Medicaid-focused health information exchange pilot project, which officials expect to be up and running within a year.

The HIE, or Patient Data Hub (The Hub), will allow clinicians and selected hospitals and clinics serving Medicare beneficiaries to share and access clinical information about patients at the point of care through a Web-based portal and interoperable data exchange.

"Our experience in providing health information technologies to large-scale networks and small practice physicians across the country has shown us that the greatest stimulus of all for healthcare providers and public health officials is to listen closely to their clinical experiences and their population's unique needs and partner with them to invest in the improved health of those to whom they provide care," said Richard Mahoney, president of MedPlus and vice president of Healthcare Information Solutions at Quest Diagnostics.

MedPlus, the health information technology subsidiary of Quest Diagnostics, will implement the HIE. MedPlus Centergy, a clinical portal and data exchange service, will provide clinicians with access to a national network that includes more than 85 electronic medical record vendors and the more than 140,000 networked physicians using Quest Diagnostics' Care360 connectivity services.

Three hospitals and six clinics will be participating in the pilot project. The Hub will aggregate patient data from  clinical sources and four additional government sources. Officials expect the aggregated data will assist them in identifying health trends and issues in the region.

"Ours will be an expandable and interoperable network that allows us to meet future needs," said Julie Hudman, director of DHCF. "It will be equipped with data analytic capabilities that will empower our public health officials to identify and address gaps in patient care revealed by the aggregate data in the system; and it will help us to break new ground in locating at-risk populations, tracking the success of health initiatives and identifying opportunities for improvement in our healthcare system."