Massachusetts eHealth Collaborative Winds Down Operations | Healthcare Innovation

The Massachusetts eHealth Collaborative (MAeHC), which has been a leader in health information technology and interoperability for over 15 years, has been dissolved after distributing its remaining assets to six local public charities.

Through their proposed grant programs, these grant recipients will continue MAeHC’s mission, which includes sponsoring, promoting and evaluating methods for improving the safety, efficiency and quality of healthcare delivery in Massachusetts through widespread implementation and use of EHRs, which have evolved over time to include the integration of other health information technology features, such as telemedicine functionality and clinical data exchange between the EHR and other platforms.

Micky Tripathi M.P.P., Ph.D., who is currently the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, was the longtime high-profile leader of MAeHC, which “stood at the forefront of interoperability, standards development and HIT policy, guiding organizations in implementation and meaningful use of technology,” said Lawrence Garber, M.D., chairman of the board of MAeHC, in a statement. “Now, with our work completed, and our mission fulfilled, it’s time to pass the torch to a new generation of HIT innovators.”

Prior to dissolving, MAeHC sold certain assets to Arcadia, a Burlington, Mass.-based population health management organization, where Tripathi worked before becoming National Coordinator.

MAeHC then assigned the New England Healthcare Exchange Network Inc. (NEHEN) contract to the Massachusetts Health Data Consortium (MHDC), a closely allied nonprofit that will continue to support this function in the Massachusetts marketplace.

Finally, in order to identify Massachusetts public charities to receive its remaining assets, the MAeHC board formed a Grant Program Selection Subcommittee to conduct an RFP process. Based upon a recommendation from the Subcommittee, the MAeHC Board selected the following grantees whose grant projects most closely align with MAeHC’s charitable purposes:

• Athol Memorial Hospital will implement and evaluate school-based telehealth technology at rural school districts with a goal of providing high quality and effective school-based telehealth diagnostic services.

• Boston HealthNet aims to increase patient utilization of home self-monitoring, as well as prescription of home monitoring devices for the purposes of treating acute COVID-19-positive patients and patients with chronic health conditions.

• East Boston Neighborhood Health Center will advance the use of telemedicine to care for the most vulnerable patients by integrating tele-monitoring devices to allow elderly patients and those with chronic illnesses or infected with COVID-19 to get more consistent and comprehensive treatment at home.

• Fenway Community Health Center intends to improve healthcare through increasing capacity, expanding access, improving outcomes and reducing costs, particularly to the LGBTQIA+ community.

• Greater Lawrence Family Health Center will make systematic changes in the way healthcare is delivered through the innovative use of electronic health information technologies.

• Massachusetts Health Data Consortium will design, test, and complete a documented prototype for Electronic Prior Authorization integrated with the EHR.

“These organizations are all doing amazing work in their local communities and across the healthcare continuum, and we look forward to seeing how our grants support their unique projects and missions,” said Christopher Matarazzo, MAeHC President and CEO, in a statement. “They will become part of the MAeHC story and its legacy, along with our former clients and employees, who I know will continue to play a role in advancing the quality and performance of HIT for years to come.”