CONNECT Solution For Nationwide Health Information Network Released For General Availability By U.S. Government

Main Category: IT / Internet / E-mail
Also Included In: Conferences
Article Date: 07 Apr 2009 - 2:00 PDT

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(HIMSS'09, Booth #3974) -- Software developed by Harris Corporation (NYSE: HRS) for the CONNECT solution supporting the Nationwide Health Information Network (NHIN) has been released for general availability by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Federal agencies and healthcare providers participating in the network can now leverage CONNECT to achieve critical mission objectives for standards-based, interoperable health information exchange. The announcement was made during the HIMSS'09 Healthcare IT Conference and Exhibition being held April 4-8 at McCormick Place in Chicago.

CONNECT enables federal agencies and private sector healthcare providers to securely exchange electronic patient information to improve quality and continuity of care, accelerate access to benefits and reduce costs. CONNECT, released for general availability last week, consists of 10 core NHIN gateway services and a software development kit enabling agencies and health enterprises to customize the services for their specific health data mission.

"This is a significant milestone in the mission to deliver an interoperable, nationwide health system, and Harris is committed to supporting the federal consortium led by the Office of the National Coordinator in achieving this goal," said Jim Traficant, vice president of Harris Healthcare Solutions. "Open source CONNECT services deliver standards-based health data interoperability with security and privacy while giving patients control of how their data is shared. That's fuel for transforming how healthcare happens in the United States."

Harris - teamed with partners Agilex Technologies, Inc., Sun Microsystems, Inc., and Scenpro, Inc. - was awarded the original development and integration contract for CONNECT by the Federal Health Architecture in March of 2008.

Several successful, high-profile NHIN demonstrations last year by federal agencies using CONNECT proved the system's ability to securely exchange summaries of care, lab results and other patient data with private sector NHIN participants. Federal participants included Social Security Administration (SSA), Department of Defense, Department of Veterans Affairs, Indian Health Service, Centers for Disease Control, and the National Cancer Institute.

During 2009, the number of federal agencies participating in CONNECT will be expanded from 6 to as many as 14. In addition to the SSA, limited production pilots are planned by other federal agencies. Harris is also demonstrating CONNECT at its booth during HIMSS'09.

Harris Healthcare Solutions provides enterprise intelligence solutions and services for commercial and government customers, including systems integration, intelligent infrastructure, advanced visualization and display, enterprise digital content management, and IT services solutions. Harris products, systems, and services improve health outcomes by assuring that critical medical information is delivered with security and privacy to the right person, on the right device, at the point of care.

About Harris Corporation

Harris is an international communications and information technology company serving government and commercial markets in more than 150 countries. Headquartered in Melbourne, Florida, the company has annual revenue of $5.4 billion and 16,000 employees -- including nearly 7,000 engineers and scientists. Harris is dedicated to developing best-in-class assured communications(R) products, systems, and services.

Source: Harris Corporation

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