We are excited about growing the Florida HIE with new participants and innovations that help drive improved patient care and create efficiencies for providers. Onboarding to the Florida HIE can start with just an email stating your interest to info@flhie.org. Following an initial conversation to confirm needs; a member of the Florida HIE team will share the legal documents which will need to be signed and once fully executed, efforts will then move to integration.

CSS currently supports HIE infrastructure in more than ten states and territories, including the District of Columbia, and provides data exchange services to over a dozen separate public health agencies across the country.

CSS, a not-for-profit organization, has been providing robust health information exchange services and technology for over 15 years. The organization brings a wealth of expertise across public health modernization, sustainable funding and services strategies, value-based care and Medicaid programs, data analytics, and advanced interoperability capabilities and technological innovation across public and private healthcare sectors.

CSS’s flexible technical and governance systems are designed to meet participants where they are, regardless of size or technical capacity, ensuring that all Florida care providers—and their patients—will be able to access and benefit from the Florida HIE’s services.

To receive the 5% discount for payment in full, an organization must pay their invoice within the first 30 days of receipt of the invoice.

The Florida HIE, powered through CSS, does direct invoicing and collection with participants. There is no pass-through or  third-party billing. This ensures transparency in pricing.  CSS does annual billing and offers a 5% discount for payment in full.

AHCA’s new partnership with CSS ensures the long-term sustainability and continued enhancement and expansion of the Florida HIE—without increasing participant fees.

CSS has increased the threshold for waived fees from a patient panel size of 7,500 patients to 20,000 and has completely waived minimum fees for small panels. For a copy of our fee schedule and complete  details, please visit: Fee Schedule – Florida HIE.

Contribution of data into the Florida HIE does not cost anything to connect to the CSS platform and on an ongoing basis. The integration and initial connection from an organization’s EHR to CSS may incur costs by your organization’s EHR. There is no cost from CSS to on-board your organization to the Florida HIE. However, electing to also receive data would activate the fee schedule. Please see our fee schedule for more details.

Yes. If selecting a third-party vendor, you will still need to sign the Florida HIE’s Participation Agreement with CSS first and then identify the party you are allowing to work with your data on your organization’s behalf. Once this has been completed, a business associate agreement (BAA) attestation must be signed and sent back to CSS for record keeping.

The Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) suggests that you be aware of the following when making the decision on using third-party vendors:

• Fees: Organizations need to be aware of any additional fees third-party vendors may charge in addition to the Florida HIE fee schedule.
• Data usage: Organizations should be vigilant of any agreements with third-party intermediaries and their use of data, including engaging in the sale of data or distribution of data outside the state of Florida without patient consent.
• Future innovations: A direct connection to the Florida HIE may offer greater flexibility by allowing for easier scalability to additional feeds and services in the future.
• Payment: For transparency, CRISP Shared Services does not permit pass-through billing with any hub connections and will invoice and collect payment directly from the participant.

You can visit our website at www.flhie.org for more information as well as our LinkedIn page for more information https://lnkd.in/eqXsqsJs.

Yes, in order to continue maintaining your Florida HIE connection, and remain in compliance, you will need to transition or initiate new interfaces with CSS. Please reach out to us at info@flhie.org to begin your onboarding.

All phases of the transition are expected to be completed by summer 2026. Individual organizational integrations are dependent on the complexity of your organization’s structure and method of integration. Most organizations, however, can be completed in 8-12 weeks.