Michigan's Statewide Health Information Sharing Capabilities Expand with Meridian Health Plan Increasing Payer Participation

EAST LANSING, Mich., March 4, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Meridian Health Plan, the largest Medicaid managed care organization (MCO) in the State of Michigan, announced today that Meridian has joined Michigan's collective effort to enable secure, electronic sharing of health information as a new Qualified Data Sharing Organization (QO) with MiHIN, the state-designated entity for the exchange of health information statewide in Michigan. Meridian is the fourth health plan in Michigan to achieve this status with MiHIN.

Becoming a QO enables Meridian to securely, electronically share and receive patient data with health care providers, hospitals, and public health agencies. Coordinated care data provided electronically at the point of care gives doctors on a patient's care team a more complete picture of a patient's medical condition and history. This allows more informed medical decisions leading to improved outcomes and lower costs for patients, providers, and payers.  

"Meridian is a physician-owned and physician-managed health plan. We understand the importance of providing critical information to physicians exactly when and where they need it," said Thomas Lauzon, Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer of Meridian Health Plan. "By supporting Michigan's goal of becoming a state that is connected for health, Meridian is also reinforcing our commitment to improving health care quality."

Meridian will participate in transferring and receiving patient care information under the MiHIN legal umbrella for the secure and private electronic exchange of health information, beginning with Admit-Discharge-Transfer (ADT) messages generated by hospitals. Data sharable under the legal umbrella with MiHIN can include notices such as ADTs, medication therapy management, quality reporting, and lab results.

In addition to patients and providers already affiliated with Meridian, the company will be able to securely share data with MiHIN's 11 other QOs, including the State of Michigan's Department of Community Health – a close partner of Meridian in its Medicaid efforts.

"Meridian's participation in MiHIN's network-of-networks model represents another positive step toward a comprehensive shared statewide network that connects all healthcare organizations across the health care spectrum in Michigan," said Tim Pletcher, MiHIN's Executive Director. "Connecting with the state's largest Medicaid MCO adds the ability to share a wealth of information and will yield significant benefits for the people of Michigan in the form of better, more affordable health care."

Meridian Health Plan is a physician-owned, physician-operated health plan with extensive experience in its subsidiary operations in Michigan, Illinois, Iowa and New Hampshire. Meridian's affiliates include Medicaid and Medicare health and prescription drug plans, a commercial plan available through the Health Insurance Marketplace and MeridianRx, a Pharmacy Benefit Management company. Meridian Health Plan currently serves more than 400,000 Medicaid members. For more information, visit www.mhplan.com.

The Michigan Health Information Network (MiHIN) is Michigan's initiative to improve health care quality, efficiency, and patient safety through the sharing of electronic health information, while reducing costs. MiHIN is the official state designated entity for health information exchange across Michigan and the future integration with the eHealth Exchange. MiHIN is a Michigan nonprofit entity, functioning as a public and private collaboration between the State of Michigan, sub-state Health Information Exchanges, payers, providers, and patients. For more information please visit www.mihin.org.

SOURCE Meridian Health Plan