MX October Newsletter
A monthly roundup of news and updates from MX
October 2023 Edition
Manifest MedEx Designated a Qualified Health Information Organization (QHIO) in the California Health and Human Services Data Exchange Framework
We are excited to announce that our application as a Qualified Health Information Organization (QHIO) in the California Health and Human Services (CalHHS) Data Exchange Framework (DxF) has been approved!
As a QHIO, we have demonstrated our ability to meet DxF requirements and help California providers, hospitals, SNFs, counties, health plans and other organizations participate in the DxF as required by law passed in 2021.
“We are honored to serve as a designated QHIO to help meet CalAIM and public health goals of advancing health equity and whole person care,” said Erica Galvez, Chief Executive Officer of Manifest MedEx. “As a mission-driven, nonprofit health data network, we see firsthand the need for digital equity across communities and providers. We are committed to supporting all DxF participants — regardless of their location, technical capabilities, or resources — so that we can truly advance data sharing across the state in a manner that ensures seamless, coordinated care for all Californians.”
As a QHIO, Manifest MedEx can help organizations meet their DxF requirements and securely participate in the DxF. With the data sharing deadline approaching, learn how MX can easily help our providers, hospitals, health plans, and other organizations comply with the DxF and apply for a DSA Signatory Grant from the state to cover the costs of meeting requirements, by registering for our "Meet Your DxF Requirements with Manifest MedEx" webinar!
Visit our website to read the full press release and register for our webinar!
Data Sharing Agreement (DSA): Manifest MedEx Supports Firm Data Standards, Privacy & Security Safeguards, and Qualified Health Information Organization (QHIO) Commitments
On September 27 and October 10, the Center for Data Insights and Innovations (CDII) convened its DSA Policies and Procedures (P&P) Subcommittee and Implementation Advisory Committee (IAC). CDII previewed plans to amend the published P&P on Data Elements to Be Exchanged and issue a new P&P governing a future Directory that will list Participants’ connection choices for exchanging data. Importantly, for many Participants these choices will include Manifest MedEx as among the nine QHIOs that were approved and announced by CDII on October 23. CDII also sought input from IAC members on how to address QHIOs that fail to meet their forthcoming application commitments.
Through our participation on both DSA committees, Manifest MedEx stressed the following:
- We joined several other experts on the P&P Subcommittee to oppose allowing organizations with “legacy” or point-to-point connections to delay compliance with the data standards, formats, and terminologies that are both nationally adopted and aligned with the DSA’s Data Elements to Be Exchanged, including USCDI Version 2. To achieve statewide connectivity, the Data Exchange Framework (DxF) must consistently apply these standards across all Participants. We are pleased that CDII has reflected our input by not including any exemption for data standards in the draft amended policy released for public comment.
- Without a Directory-supported mechanism to authenticate the identities and credentials of Participants, to protect the privacy and security of health and social services information, intermediaries like QHIOs will be left to separately require this verification before responding to DxF queries outside of their networks.
- Rather than impose lesser sanctions such as corrective action plans, CDII should be prepared to suspend or revoke the qualified status of any QHIO that misses key deadlines for demonstrating organizational requirements and functional capabilities (such as industry security certification and the ability to share ADT notifications). All QHIO candidates knowingly attested to these fundamental expectations in their application submissions, with ample notice of CDII’s expected timelines for compliance. Holding QHIOs accountable to these commitments will minimize disruptions over the long term and instill greater confidence in the “network of networks” that the State has deemed reliable for Participants to meet their DxF exchange obligations.
We will continue to keep you updated on these policies as they evolve.
DSA Signatory Grants: Round 3 Now Open!
The DSA Signatory Grants Round 3 application window opened on October 16. To date, CDII has awarded $8.6 million to organizations that have signed the DSA. As a newly selected QHIO, Manifest MedEx is excited to collaborate with many of our current and prospective participants to jointly submit applications for grant support.
Manifest MedEx is applying for DSA grant funding as an umbrella organization to offset the costs of significant investments we have made to help our participants easily meet their data sharing requirements and save time and resources. These enhancements, set to launch in early December (see training schedule below), include an updated web portal and improved USCDI v2 support for exchanging required data elements like social drivers of health (SDOH) and sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI), if collected and maintained by the organization.
To help us apply for grants, MX providers can simply follow these three easy steps:
- Sign the CalHHS Data Sharing Agreement (DSA), if your organization has yet to sign. This is a legal agreement between you and other DSA signatories to participate in the DxF and exchange data as required.
- Complete this form to join MX’s umbrella application for DSA signatory grants on your behalf. As the largest non-profit health information organization in California, grants like these enable MX to continue to offer our tools and services to primary care providers at no cost.
- Ensure your CCDA feed to MX is live. Providers are required to share clinical data in USCDI v2 (if currently collected and maintained) for permitted uses through the DxF. Your CCDA feed to MX helps you meet this requirement. Not sure if your feed is live? Contact your MX Customer Success representative or confirm with your EHR vendor that you are exchanging all the data you collect/maintain in the required data standard.
After you complete these steps, Manifest MedEx will ensure your data is made available to other DSA signatories securely and as required for permitted uses only, fulfilling your data sharing requirements. This process includes entering your organization into a DSA signatory directory where MX will be identified as the place from which other DSA signatories can request your data for permitted uses, eliminating your burden to respond directly to requests from thousands of DSA signatories.
Questions? Contact customersuccess@manifestmedex.org to discuss how this funding opportunity can help you comply with and benefit from the DxF.
Follow us on LinkedIn @Manifest MedEx, Twitter @ManifestMedEx, and visit our DxF resource center to stay updated on the Data Exchange Framework, Data Sharing Agreement, QHIO Program, Signatory Grants, policy updates, and upcoming events!
MX Network Growth: Additional Clinical Care Summaries
from CA Health Systems!
As we continue to work towards ensuring that care teams have all the information needed to effectively treat their patient populations and implement the DxF broadly across the state, Manifest MedEx is excited to announce that we are now bringing clinical care summaries from Cedars-Sinai Health System and MemorialCare Health System into the MX system!
All care summaries coming into the MX system are available in MX Access (both discretely throughout the portal and in the documents tab), as well as the following MX data services: CCDA Forwarding, Clinical Notes for Risk Adjustment, longitudinal patient summaries, and clinical extracts for HEDIS reporting.
This treatment-driven exchange is facilitated through our participation with national networks, like eHealth Exchange and Carequality.
2023 Annual California Data Exchange Framework Summit
Last month, the California Health and Human Services’ Center for Data Insights and Innovation, California Health Care Foundation, Connecting for Better Health, and Manifest MedEx co-hosted the 2023 Annual California Data Exchange Framework (DxF) Summit themed, “Cultivating Connections: Expanding Health and Human Services Data Exchange to Advance Health Equity!”
The event was held at Fort Mason for Arts & Culture located on the waterfront of San Francisco, CA. Health leaders, policy leaders, and community stakeholders from more than 85 agencies, associations, health plans, and healthcare organizations across the state and country attended and discussed ways to accelerate cross-entity collaboration through the DxF to meet California’s goals around advancing health equity, strengthening California’s healthcare and public health ecosystems, and providing whole person care so that our most vulnerable have more coordinated and comprehensive access to the social supports they need.
During this year’s summit, we focused on bold and honest conversations about the Data Exchange Framework and progress to implement the DxF, health data policies and their impact in our state, and how various initiatives that involve health and human services exchange are aligning or running parallel.
We heard from several speakers about national efforts to advance the Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement (TEFCA), California’s own Data Exchange Framework, CalAIM, public health data infrastructure, health equity, and more. We also provided time for our attendees, speakers, colleagues, and friends to meet and network at our evening receptions and our fun, outdoor lunch provided by some of San Francisco's best food trucks.
To all who were in attendance, we appreciate your time and willingness to participate in the event. We hope you found it as enlightening and inspiring as we did. Visit our website to learn about the summit topics, speakers, and more!
MX Access & MX Notify Enhancements: Training Schedule
As announced in July, we are making a series of enhancements to our tools and products that will help our participants comply with the DxF, streamline performance, improve the quality of reporting and user experience, and save time.
As we prepare to launch these enhancements in early December, the Customer Success team will host a series of one-hour training sessions and 30-minute office hours throughout the months of November and December to provide an introduction to these enhancements and ensure a seamless transition for our participants.
If you are an active portal user, you should have received emails with our upcoming training dates. If you are an active participant and did not receive these emails, please contact your Customer Success Representative for more information.
We look forward to seeing you at one of these upcoming sessions!
MX's HITRUST CSF® Certification Renewal
We are excited to announce that MX's systems and applications that support our notification and longitudinal patient record services—MX Notify and MX Access—have successfully met the requirements of HITRUST CSF® certification, demonstrating the highest levels of security in the healthcare industry. Manifest MedEx has consistently earned HITRUST CSF® Certification since 2019. As a standards organization, HITRUST® has spent over a decade integrating regulatory requirements like HIPAA and related best practices in security to help businesses manage their information security risk and compliance requirements.
This achievement places MX among an elite group of organizations that have earned this certification. By including federal and state regulations, standards and frameworks, and incorporating a risk-based approach, the HITRUST CSF® helps securely exchange real-time health data information through a comprehensive and flexible framework of prescriptive and scalable security controls. Manifest MedEx securely shares permitted health data for approximately 37 million Californians — over 90% of Californians — across a network of more than 1,800 healthcare providers, 125 hospitals, and 14 health plans, including Aetna, Blue Shield of California, Anthem Blue Cross, Health Net, and Inland Empire Health Plan.
“Protecting patient information within the Manifest MedEx network is a top priority," said Jason Buckner, Chief Information Officer at Manifest MedEx. "As a designated Qualified Health Information Organization (QHIO), we look forward to implementing the Data Exchange Framework across California and exchanging patient data safely and securely for all MX and DxF participants."
MX Welcomes New Participants!
We are excited to announce that Community Health Plan of Imperial Valley (CHPIV), a locally managed public health care plan that operates under the Medi-Cal Managed Care Program, has joined Manifest MedEx’s health data network.
CHPIV is working with community residents and stakeholders in both the public and private sectors to:
- Advance opportunities for improved health and access to comprehensive health care services.
- Promote the long-term viability of safety net providers.
- Increase prevention, education, and early intervention services; and
- Partner with Medi-Cal managed care plans to monitor and improve the local healthcare system.
With Manifest MedEx, CHPIV intends to provide their care managers with increased and relevant access to member data to help streamline care, reduce errors, and improve the overall quality of care to their members.
Participant Bright Spot
Founded in 2014, Aledade is the largest network of independent primary care organizations in the country, helping primary care practices, Community Health Centers (CHCs), Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) and health clinics deliver better care and thrive under value-based care. Together with 1,500+ practices in 46 states and the District of Columbia, Aledade shares in the risk and reward across more than 150 value-based contracts and is responsible for two million patient lives under medical management.
Success in value-based care requires Aledade providers and care teams to be updated to changes in the status of their patients so that the right care can be provided at the right time. Aledade relies on admission, discharge, and transfer (ADT) notifications to enable clinicians to see when a patient has visited the emergency department (ED) or has been discharged from the hospital. This helps initiate timely post-discharge follow-up to reduce ED readmissions and decrease the number of patients going back to the ED unnecessarily.
To get more ADTs in California, Aledade joined Manifest MedEx, California’s largest nonprofit health information organization in 2020. As of 2023, 35 of CAledade’s practices are participants in Manifest MedEx, representing almost 60,000 patients, and $780 million dollars in medical spend under management.
Visit our website to learn how the utilization of ADTs supports CAledade's transitional care management (TCM) to improve care coordination, prevent avoidable readmissions, and reduce costs.
News and Events
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2023 eHealth Exchange Annual Meeting
Join Erica Galvez, CEO, Manifest MedEx in San Diego on November 14th at 10:45 AM PT as she joins regional and state HIE leaders in a panel discussion titled, "Trickle Down TEFCA," to discuss the challenges, hopes, and expectations for traditional users of health information exchange. Erica will also serve as a panelist on the "Payer and Provider Burden Reduction using FHIR (and preparing for TEFCA)" panel to discuss targeted solutions leveraging FHIR to gain workflow efficiencies.
Register here to learn more!
Network Growth
New data sources available on MX today:
Observational Results from the following participant:
Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital
ADTs from the following 15 participants:
Seton Medical Center Coastside and Seton Medical Center (AHMC Healthcare, Inc.)
Choice Physician's Network, Inc.
Clinica Medica Familiar - PHN, Inc. (3 locations)
SAC Health System (9 locations)
CCDAs from the following 42 participants:
Parkview Community Hospital Medical Center (AHMC Healthcare, Inc.)
Central City Community Health Center, Inc. (3 locations)
Choice Physician's Network, Inc.
Clinica Medica Familiar - PHN, Inc. (3 locations))
Desert Valley Medical Group, Inc. (4 locations)
Dr. Jimmy Phan Medical Corporation
Durga Medical Corporation (2 locations)
Holt Medical Corporation
Mahmoud A Ibrahim, M.D.
New Life Medical Associates, Inc.
Quality Care IPA Inland Empire, Inc.
Rancho Family Medical Group (11 locations)
SAC Health System (9 locations)
Sunshine Pediatrics Medical Group AKA Ching-Chih David Huang, M.D., Inc.
The Center for Comprehensive Care and Diagnosis of Inherited Blood Disorders
Valenzuela Medical Group I, Inc., DBA My Family & Me Primary Care
Lab data from the following 46 participants:
Seton Medical Center (AHMC Healthcare, Inc.)
Arwinnah Bautista, M.D. (2 locations)
Blasko Medical Consultants
Choice Physician's Network, Inc. (20 locations)
Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital (2 locations)
Jeremy V. Gomer, M.D., PH.D. Professional Corporation DBA Virtue Primary Care
Los Angeles Hematology Oncology Medical Group DBA The Los Angeles Cancer Network (13 locations)
New Light Medical Group, Inc.
Oshodi Medical Corporation DBA Heart and Vascular Wellness Center
Patients Choice Medical Group, Inc.
Primary Care Family Practice
SAC Health System
Welcome Health Medical Group
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