Chuck Christian, VP of Technology and Engagement, IHIE, Chapter 1

In nearly every discussion about the state of health IT, the word ‘complex’ always seems to surface. But when it comes down to it, the ultimate goal is actually quite simple: to inform care though data. And to Chuck Christian, former CIO and current VP of technology and engagement with the Indiana HIE, that means presenting clinicians with the data they need — both inside and outside the EHR — in a matter of seconds.

In this interview, Christian offers his usual candid take on where the industry stands in terms of interoperability, and how HIE is working toward that goal by focusing on EHR integration, interstate and intrastate data exchange, and population health initiatives. He also gives his thoughts on the opioid epidemic, data blocking, and how CMS could be changing the game.

Chapter 1



* IHIE’s 5-year strategic plan

* Same basic tenet: “Moving data to the clinicians”

* FHIR app w/ Regenstrief Institute

* Chest pain data in 12 seconds

* Incorporating outside data

* “If it works, let’s expand upon it. If it doesn’t, let’s do something different.”

* Direct connections with HIEs to “share data in real-time to help inform care”



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Bold Statements

We’re basically the data fuel for that. It works really well. We’ve gotten some really great feedback from that organization — it’s helped them create an integrated network of partner physicians, not employed physicians.

Patients don’t just get care in one emergency room. They don’t get care in one hospital. They don’t get care in one physician practice. They get care in a lot of different places, and so being able to inform that care with information from outside of your organization is an area where we can actually have an impact.

The speed in which you can get that information in front of the physician’s eyes is going to be paramount, because they’re not going to wait four or five minutes for somebody to pick up the phone or look something up. It needs to be right there.

Now that we have the data, we can do things quicker. And with standards like FHIR and others that are being worked on, we can create those prototypes and see how they work and if they’re of benefit to the medical community or not.

The issue is about sharing the data where it’s appropriate, and letting the data follow the patient very simply. We’ve found it doesn’t require a lot of framework or a lot of additional effort to move that data.

Gamble:  Hi Chuck, thank you, as always, for joining us.

Christian:  Always a pleasure. I appreciate the opportunity and I always wondered if I had anything worthwhile to say.

 

Gamble:  And yet we always find things to talk about, right?

Chuck:  Yes, we do.

 

Gamble:  I’d like to talk about some of the things you’re working on at the Indiana Health Information Exchange (IHIE). What are you focused on right now?

Christian:  Sure. We spent some time back in 2015 actually doing strategic planning, which was new for us. I told [CEO John Kansky] it was because I joined the team, but that’s not really true. He had planned to do that — and in fact, they asked me to join the company early so I could be part of that planning process. We’ve been working on the five-year plan that we initiated with our board. We’re going to be refreshing that this year, but it’s still the same basic tenets of moving data to the clinicians; rather than having it outside their workflow, how do we get it inside their workflow. So we’re focused on EHR integration.

We have two pretty good success stories around that. The first is a health system we worked with in Northwest Indiana. They’re putting together a clinically integrated network and we’re feeding their i...