CHICAGO, April 6, 2009 (HIMSS'09, Booth #3974) — Harris Corporation (NYSE:HRS) has been awarded the first-year option to its Nationwide Health Information Network (NHIN) CONNECT contract by the Federal Health Architect of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of the National Coordinator. CONNECT is an open-source implementation of the NHIN specifications that enables federal agencies and healthcare providers to quickly and securely exchange patient information, improving the quality of care while reducing costs. The announcement was made during the HIMSS'09 Healthcare IT Conference and Exhibition being held April 4-8 at McCormick Place in Chicago.
The announcement follows the Department of Health and Human Services' public release last month of CONNECT as an open-source software. Harris — teamed with partners Agilex Technologies, Inc., Sun Microsystems, Inc., and Scenpro, Inc. — was awarded the original development and integration contract for CONNECT in March of 2008.
Several successful, high-profile demonstrations have established the system's ability to seamlessly exchange medical notes, lab results and other critical health data summaries. Federal agencies leveraging CONNECT for health information exchange include the Department of Defense, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Social Security Administration (SSA), the Indian Health Service, the Centers for Disease Control, and the National Cancer Institute. During the demonstrations, the CONNECT system also connected to and exchanged data with private-sector health information exchange implementations of the NHIN specifications. Harris is also demonstrating CONNECT at its booth during HIMSS'09.
"The initial focus was on development and testing of the gateway that enables information to flow in and out of the network and among members of the federal consortium," said Jim Traficant, vice president of Harris Healthcare Solutions. "With the enterprise integration services developed by the Harris team now in place, the next phase will deliver health information exchange components that enhance enterprise operation. We are very pleased to lead this critical national initiative to transform nationwide health information sharing and, ultimately, save lives."
Established interfaces with implementations of several of the enterprise services components are complete and work on enterprise-class implementations are in progress. These implementations include the enterprise-class Master Patient Index (MPI), and enterprise services components that address identity management, document registration, document repository, and enterprise policy. The MPI will be expanded to include devices, so that health care organizations can track equipment as well as patient information. The next phase also will include the addition of clinical decision support software and an administrative console.
"Tens of thousands of people die in the U.S. each year as a result of medical errors, and more than 30 percent of today's staggering healthcare costs are tied to overhead activities such as paperwork," said Bart Harmon, MD, MPH, and chief medical Officer for Harris Healthcare Solutions. "CONNECT offers immediate access to, and management of, vital medical information. Providing the enterprise intelligence technology for this program is part of our commitment to getting the right information to the right person, on the right device — at the point of care."
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® products, systems, and services. Additional information about Harris Corporation is available at www.harris.com.
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Contact Information:
Sleighton Meyer
Harris Government Communications Systems
sleighton.meyer@harris.com
321-727-6514
Marc Raimondi
Harris Corporation - Washington, DC
marc.raimondi@harris.com
202-729-3732
Jim Burke
Harris Corporation
jim.burke@harris.com
321-727-9131
