As Civitas Networks for Health prepares to convene its annual conference in Arlington, Va., next week, its members will hear presentations on a range of topics illustrating the widening array of use cases that health information exchanges enable. 

The Civitas network represents more than 150 member organizations and business partners moving and using data to improve health outcomes across the country. Presentations will focus on topics ranging from consent governance in health data exchange to the use of AI models with HIE data. 

Over the past few years, Civitas has worked in partnership with the Consortium for State and Regional Interoperability (CSRI) in developing and promoting the health data utility (HDU) concept. HDUs are defined as nonprofit organizations with information exchange at their core and multi-stakeholder governance. Through their mission and function, they seek to meet the comprehensive health data delivery and analytics needs of a state’s public and private sectors. 

In 2023 CSRI created a Maturity Model for health data utilities. Last year it built on that framework by creating a Capability Model that identifies more than 160 capabilities for a clearer understanding of what an HDU can do.

Jolie Ritzo, CEO of Civitas Networks for Health, noted that several presentations at the upcoming conference will shine a light on the work of HDUs, including one involving the New Mexico HIE, which is called Syncronys. The New Mexico Department of Health is funding data science resources embedded in the HIE to support outbreak intelligence, rural care access monitoring, and chronic disease forecasting. 

“These presentations are demonstrating how the HIEs are becoming critical national infrastructure beyond just the exchange of clinical data,” Ritzo said. 

In another example of what an HDU can do, she pointed to a presentation from stakeholders in Washington, D.C., about how the CRISP D.C. HDU delivers real‑time school absenteeism data directly into clinical workflows. Care teams use this insight to identify at‑risk students, address health and social barriers, and coordinate proactive, whole‑person interventions that improve both health and academic outcomes. Another panel session will describe how the D.C. HDU is developing programs that integrate clinical, social, and public health data to drive measurable, community-centered impact.

In another panel discussion, HDU leaders will consider how they can support shared priorities such as public health, care coordination, quality improvement, and data-driven decision-making, while using CSRI’s HDU Capability Model as a common framework to describe, assess, and showcase capabilities on a broader national scale—without over-prescribing the architecture or limiting local flexibility.

“We are preparing to launch a health data utility learning community with 25 HIEs that have expressed interest in doing the assessment work,” Ritzo said. 

If the shift from HIE to HDU is one focus of the meeting, Ritzo said, another is the rise of community information exchanges (CIEs) that share data between clinical groups and community-based organizations. For instance, as communities work to better address housing instability and homelessness, stronger connections between healthcare, housing, and social care systems are required. The concept, which was pioneered by 211 San Diego, has grown across the country in places such as Washington state, Chicago, and Michigan, she added.

Another session will examine initiatives linking HIEs and community-based organizations delivering nutrition care: A FHIR integration to support enrollment and clinical workflows, and a data aggregation effort to evaluate multi-component medically tailored meal and grocery interventions.

These CIE conversations lead to other sessions focused on the challenges involved in developing shared consent governance frameworks.

Another strong flavor at this year’s conference is the role HIEs are expected to play in the state-level rural health transformation programs. Ritzo said one session will focus on how states are moving toward integration between HIEs and EMS agencies to support rural care providers. For instance, Iowa is connecting field providers to real-time hospital and behavioral health bed availability to improve patient routing and strengthen crisis care response in rural communities. 

Ritzo said other conference topics that intrigues her include the role of HIEs in value-based care and quality measurement. Abe Sutton, director of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI), will sit down for a keynote fireside chat with Theresa Dreyer, Civitas Board Member/External Director and CEO of the Health Care Transformation Task Force, to discuss how CMMI is supporting the future of healthcare transformation and innovation.

Other policy-related topic discussions including information blocking and the role HIEs can play in the implementation of the Advancing Chronic Care with Effective, Scalable Solutions (ACCESS) Model. Another session will describe how HIE infrastructure can be leveraged to meet the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Interoperability and Prior Authorization Rule (CMS-0057-F).