On February 11th, 2013 a new version of the open source platform for secure exchange of health information Connect has been released. CONNECT V 4. Has been made available to provide federal and other entities a secure exchange platform that has been the result of the collaboration of multiples agencies such as the VA, CMS, DOD, and SSA.
As many who have been following the development of the CONNECT Project as well as the Direct Project, this announcements means that there have been additional the latest release that will benefit its users.
Some of the highlighted features within the new released as listed on the web site are:
- Receive higher message volumes – CONNECT 4.0 can support secure health information flows of 1600+ messages per minute.
- Exchange large files (for the first time) of up to 1 GB.
- Run CONNECT on additional application servers such as Glassfish, IBM WebSphere, and Oracle WebLogic to meet unique IT environment needs.
- Get more comprehensive event and metric data with improved logging capabilities. Since CONNECT is often used as a gateway in concert with other systems like electronic health records, improved logging allows adopters to integrate CONNECT into whole-system monitoring.
- Determine the state of a transaction across messages to better track and analyze the operations of CONNECT and trading partner gateways.
- Minimize deployment load by supporting a lightweight gateway, which allows for a smaller server footprint and use of system resources.
During the HIMSS event in New Orleans this year, the ONC and FHA will be holding several sessions that will highlight some of the programs such CONNECT, direct project, State HIEs, NHIN, SHARP program, S&I Framework and Beacon Communities. This would provide an opportunity for Technology enthusiast, Clinicians, the private and public sector some exposure to these programs as part of the interoperable health information exchange at the HIMSS.