New York RHIO awarded grant.

The Health Information Exchange of New York (HIXNY) was recently awarded $1.7 million in state funding for the creation of a statewide medical database. The goal of HIXNY is to bring disparate systems and databases in the state's medical community under a unified Internet-based database. The grant, which was awarded under the state's HEAL-NY program to improve healthcare in the state, was far short of the original $9.5 million that the foundation applied for. Founded in 1999, but gaining traction in 2005, HIXNY had previously been funded solely by its member organizations including eight hospitals, four physician groups, three health insurance plans, three community health centers and two trade associations. While progress is being made, both member and non-member organizations in the state point to the nearly $2 million in cost to organizations for staff training and the technology needed to access HIXNY.