I wrote this wrapup of the HIMMS “Enabling e-Health for RHIOs” Webinar held yesterday. ‘…If you start a [Regional Health Information Organization] RHIO, try not to call it that since RHIOs are seen as pie in sky dreams that may have unattainable goals. In the San Diego example he said they called theirs an HIE (health information exchange). I�m not sure what changing the name does, but apparently he thought that calling it an HIE and not a RHIO at least got it off the ground…’

‘Don�t count on grants to start or run a RHIO. If you get grants, that�s fine but be sure to have a sustainable business model because you will run out of grant funds. Count on between $2 and $5 million in investments based on the size and scope of the RHIO.

Make sure docs pay something to get into the network (even if it�s just �yellow pages� type money of $50 a month).

Since the biggest benefits of a RHIO occur for health plans, get them involved early and often and have them pay for much of it…’