NHIN: The Network of Networks

The purpose of NHIN is to provide a secure nationwide interoperable health information exchange connecting patients, physicians and others in support of the delivery of quality healthcare services. By eliminating barriers of access to federal services and programs, and by developing a capacity to aggregate nationwide clinical indices, NHIN seeks to deploy a rapid response to clinical indicators reflective of disease outbreak and chronic disease management throughout the U.S.

There are currently seven federal agencies in various stages of deployment utilizing the government's open source CONNECT software. The Department of Social Security Administration (SSA) is in production with several leading Health Information Exchanges (HIEs), most prominent of which is MedVirginia, the first and only private sector deployment of CONNECT. The MedVirginia portal to the NHIN, CONNECTfx, makes use of the open source CONNECT framework. Nationwide Health Information Technology, Inc. developed CONNECTfx to facilitate adoption among NHIEs, HIEs, hospitals, and other healthcare stakeholders to contribute to the government's open source initiative and to offer other healthcare organizations an affordable, financially sustainable gateway to NHIN.