30+ New York Health IT Executives Call for State Legislature to Fund Statewide Health Information of New York (SHIN-NY)

Powerful NY Entrepreneurial Companies Lend Public Support to the SHIN-NY

NY Companies Agree that Governor’s Funding for the SHIN-NY will Transform NY into Nation’s Leading Hub for Health IT Innovation + Create 1,500 New Jobs

New York – Today, 33 top New York Health IT investors and entrepreneurs signed a public letter to New York legislators, urging their support for Governor Cuomo’s $65 million funding proposal for the Statewide Health Information Network of New York (the SHIN-NY).

“By funding the SHIN-NY,” the letter notes, “New York has the opportunity to lead the nation as the first large state to implement a statewide health information exchange that is not tethered to specific healthcare providers.”

By modernizing New York’s system of electronic health records, the letter adds that “the SHIN-NY is poised to attract new technology companies and jobs” to New York’s fast-growing Health IT sector and “is expected to create over 1,500 new jobs across New York State over the next five years.”

The SHIN-NY is a secure and interconnected system of electronic health records that will improve healthcare for all New Yorkers by ensuring that doctors and patients have instant access to their health records, anywhere and anytime. The majority of the Governor’s proposed funding will go towards interconnecting the SHIN-NY’s ten regional health organizations (RHIOs) throughout the state, which are currently silo-ed, and increasing provider participation in the network. The State Legislature will need to approve the Governor’s funding for the SHIN-NY by March 31^st.

In the letter, the 33 companies agree that the SHIN-NY is a “forward-thinking investment” and encourage New York legislators to approve the funding in upcoming budget negotiations.

The 33 local, New York State companies that have signed the letter in support of the SHIN-NY include: Start Up Health, OpenmHealth, YingoYango, New Leaf Venture Partners, TenElevenGroup, Meditech, MedCPU, Medent, Netsmart, ManaHealth (Winner of  NYeC’s Patient Portal Design Challenge), J2Interactive, Innovative Solutions, Hinext (Creator of Treat), Fitango, ExactData, BioDigital, ActualMeds, Chenoa Information Services, CipherHealth, eCaring, CredSimple, CureMD, Cureatr, NextGen Healthcare, Remedy, RightCareSolutions, RipRoad,  TalkSession, Luminary Labs, SpectraMedix,  SpotMe, Health Recovery Solutions and Key Management Group.

In addition to these New York State companies, 17 other Health IT companies with strong New York businesses have signed the letter, supporting the SHIN-NY as a key investment that will bring more jobs to the state.

The full list of the letter’s signers is included below.

The SHIN-NY is coordinated by the New York eHealth Collaborative (NYeC). The network will be overseen by the New York State Department of Health and will be governed by federal HIPAA and State privacy and security policies and standards.

 

Full Text of Letter:

 

Dear New York State Legislators:

 

New York’s health information technology sector is growing, creating good jobs for New Yorkers across the state.  As investors and entrepreneurs in this sector, we urge you to support job growth in our industry by approving Governor Cuomo’s $65 million budget appropriation for New York’s Statewide Health Information Network (the SHIN-NY) and the regional health information organizations (RHIOs).

 

The SHIN-NY is a secure and interconnected system of electronic health records that will improve healthcare for all New Yorkers by ensuring that doctors and patients have instant access to their health records, anywhere and anytime. The majority of the Governor’s proposed funding will go towards linking the SHIN-NY’s ten RHIOs throughout the state, which are currently silo-ed, and increasing provider participation.

 

By modernizing our state’s system for transmitting patient information, the SHIN-NY is poised to attract new technology companies and jobs, reinforcing New York as a powerful hub for health technology innovation. The SHIN-NY is expected to create over 1,500 new jobs across New York State over the next five years.

 

Since 2008, New York City’s Silicon Alley has soared: at least 900 start-up Internet companies hiring for 3,000 jobs are listed under the city’s “We Are Made In NY Initiative.” Venture capital funding in healthcare technology reached $2.2 billion in 2013, with a large portion of these funds going towards growth-stage and expansion-stage technology companies in the New York metro area. With this recent explosion of technology capital and an unrivaled density of healthcare organizations and hospitals, New York City and its neighboring regions are on the brink of leading a healthcare technology revolution.

 

By funding the SHIN-NY, New York has the opportunity to lead the nation as the first large state to implement a statewide health information exchange that is not tethered to specific healthcare providers. The inherent nature of rapid and increased communication across modern electronic health records will allow for multiple stakeholders including investors, healthcare providers, and technology entrepreneurs to collaboratively build the best healthcare technology products and attract top talent from around the country and globe.

 

As leaders of this industry, we believe the SHIN-NY is a forward-thinking investment that will radically transform New York into the world’s epicenter for healthcare technology. We ask that you approve the Governor’s proposed funding for the SHIN-NY in upcoming budget negotiations.

 

Thank you,

 

Anish Sebastian

CEO & Co-Founder, IEQ

 

Patricia S Meisner

CEO, ActualMeds

 

Robert Stern

CEO, @Point of Care 360

 

Frank Sculli

CEO and Co-founder, BioDigital

 

Audrey Ostrovsky, MD

CEO, Care at Hand

 

Rajesh Devi

CEO, Chenoa Information Services

 

Randy Cheung

Co-Founder, CipherHealth

 

Cora Alisuag

President & CEO, Coranet Solutions

 

Sam Meyer

CTO, CredSimple

 

Bill Hashmat

Cofounder & CIOm CureMD

 

Robert Herzog

CEO, eCaring

 

Michael Gerstenfeld, MD

CMO, ENSA

 

John Dawson

President, ExactData

 

Dr. Dov Biran

CEO, Fitango

 

Amnon Keynan

CEO, Healarium

 

Jarrett Bauer

CEO, Health Recovery Solutions

 

Peter Catford

President, HInext

 

Chris Burrow, MD

EVP Medical Affairs, Humetrix

 

Robert Titus

Principal, Innovative Solutions

 

Lou LaRocca

President, J2 Interactive

 

Oakkar Oakkar

CEO, Keona Health

 

Rohit Narang

President, Key Management Group

 

Swatee Surve

CEO, Litesprite

 

Chris Bradley

CEO and Cofounder, ManaHealth

 

Gary Cuthbert

President, Medent

 

Hoda Sayed-Friel

EVP, Meditech

 

Kevin Scalia

EVP, Netsmart

 

William Tatham

CEO, NexJ Systems

 

Mike Lovett

EVP, NextGen Healthcare

 

Philippe Chambon

Managing Director, New Leaf Venture Partners

 

Nir Pengas

VP, Remedy

 

Eric Heil

President, RightCare Solutions

 

Eric Leven

CEO, Rip Road

 

Sara Holoubek

CEO, Luminary Labs

 

Raj Lakhanpal, MD

CEO, SpectraMedix

 

Jared Wolf

CEO, SpotMe

 

Connie Chen, MD

Medical Director, StartX

 

Lalo Valdez

CEO, Stella Technology

 

Melissa Thompson

CEO, TalkSession

 

Talya Miron-Shatz

CEO, CureMyWay

 

Alex Alexander

CEO, TenEleven Group

 

Trey Swann

Founder, TrueVault

 

Jason Huddleston

VP Sales, Vital Images

 

Marty Jaramillo

CEO and Founder, YingoYango

 

Andriana Nikolova, MD

CEO, Yosko

 

Ramesh Kumar

CEO & Co-Founder, Zakipoint

 

David Haddad

CEO, Open mHealth

 

Dr. Joseph Mayer

Co-founder and CEO, Cureatr

 

Eyal Ephrat, MD

Chairman & CEO, MedCPU

 

Unity Stoakes

Co-Founder, StartUp Health

 

About The New York eHealth Collaborative (NYeC): NYeC is a not-for-profit organization, working in partnership with the New York State Department of Health to improve healthcare for all New Yorkers through health information technology (health IT). Founded in 2006 by healthcare leaders, NYeC receives funding from state and federal grants to serve as the focal point for health IT in the State of New York. NYeC works to develop policies and standards, to assist healthcare providers in making the shift to electronic health records, and to coordinate the creation of the Statewide Health Information Network of New York (SHIN-NY), a network to connect healthcare providers statewide. www.nyehealth.org & @NYeHealth