Davenport hosts vendor showcase

Four information technology vendors will court West Michigan’s health care community Friday by showing how they could provide the connections for a 13-county Health Information Exchange.

Axolotl Corp., Covisint, Medicity and Wellogic will converge from 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m. at Davenport University’s Fulton Street campus. The vendors will offer information about connecting a wide variety of information technology systems in West Michigan’s health care organizations, said Gary Newell, executive director of the Alliance for Health’s Health Care Vision 2020 West Michigan Health Information Exchange.

The WMHIE, funded by $670,000 in state grants, will focus on clinical messaging. That will allow providers to share medical information about patients, such as lab results, over a wide computer network.

Newell said the 83-page business plan calls for WMHIE funding to come from charges for 15 board seats, transaction fees paid by the sender, and a per-month, per-member charge on payers, such as health insurance companies.

The WMHIE is expected to decide on a vendor later this year, Newell said.

Friday’s event features vendor presentations at 9 a.m, 10:30 a.m., 1 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. All four vendors will participate at each session, he said. Lunch at noon is free, but Newell requested RSVPs by calling 248-3820 or sending e-mail to alliancenotices@afh.org

The state is divided into eight medical trading areas, and each is at a different stage of creating a health information exchange. The idea is for all of them to connect at some point to provide statewide coverage.