Design Specifications for a Statewide Health Information Exchange
$25K max award. The private and secure exchange of electronic health information has become a cornerstone in
the overall strategy to obtain greater value in health care. The Maryland Health Care
Commission (MHCC) and the Health Services Cost Review Commission (HSCRC) are working
collaboratively to implement an interoperable statewide health information exchange (HIE). In
early 2009, two multi-stakeholder planning teams (planning teams) will propose detailed plans
for building an HIE. The planning teams will separately address issues related to governance,
privacy and security, HIE architecture, hardware and software solutions, implementation costs,
and will recommend a sustainable business model. The best ideas from the two planning teams
will then be merged together to create a final statewide HIE implementation plan.
MHCC seeks assistance in identifying the framework for the infrastructure, clinical, and
technical architecture necessary for inclusion in a Request for Applications (RFA) to build a
statewide HIE. The identification of the components to include in the RFA will be based on the
existing work of the planning teams and on contractor research of activities from other state and
regional HIE initiatives. The contractor will be expected to identify the design requirements for a detailed RFA. The MHCC and HSCRC expect to release the HIE implementation RFA during
the second quarter of 2009. The MHCC intends to select a contractor on a time and materials
basis.
