12-04-2014
DIRECT is a form of secure e-mail that provides the standards and services necessary to securely push content from a sender to a receiver. DIRECT benefits patients and providers by improving the sharing of health information, making it faster, more secure and less expensive. It is also a first step towards the adoption of more robust forms of health information exchange. As of August 31, 2014, 9,498 health care providers are enrolled as DIRECT users by certified health information service providers (HISP), an increase of 37 percent over a year ago.
With 2015 around the corner, Stage 2 Core Meaningful Use Objective, Summary of Care, will be required for all providers in Stage 2 of Meaningful Use. One of the 3 measures within the Stage 2 - Summary of Care objective is:
The EP who transitions or refers their patient to another setting of care or provider of care provides a summary of care record for more than 10 percent of such transitions and referrals either (a) electronically transmitted using CEHRT to a recipient or (b) where the recipient receives the summary of care record via exchange facilitated by an organization that is a NwHIN Exchange participant or in a manner that is consistent with the governance mechanism the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) establishes for the NwHIN.
This measure is most easily accomplished with DIRECT messaging. It will become increasingly important for providers to identify other provider’s DIRECT addresses. One means to identify the direct address of the providers you refer to or receive referrals from is to contact these providers and request their DIRECT addresses. At the same time, you can also share your provider’s DIRECT address. Additionally, PA e-Health has a DIRECT Directory available for looking up Direct addresses. (Note: This directory only contains DIRECT addresses of the providers that are subscribed to a PA certified HISP). Providers cannot submit their DIRECT address for publishing by PA e-Health unless you are subscribed to a PA certified HISP.
If you need additional assistance with Meaningful Use (and in particular Summary of Care measure), please contact , PA REACH Project Coordinator.