One of the most interesting organizations in healthcare is Civitas Networks for Health. This non-profit organization brings together some of the key organizations that provide the national infrastructure for health and health data. One of their best venues to convene their community is at the upcoming Civitas 2026 Annual conference.
I recently sat down with Jolie Ritzo, CEO at Civitas Networks for Health, Anne Santifer, Executive Director at Arkansas State Health Alliance for Records Exchange, and Dan Cranshaw, Executive Director at KC Health Collaborative, to learn more about what’s happening in the Civitas community and get a preview of their annual conference. One thing they shared was how often healthcare infrastructure serves an important purpose but goes unrecognized. This is by design. For example, an HIE (Health Information Exchange) may make a patient’s information from multiple organizations available to a clinician at the point of care. The clinician and patient often have no idea how the information from external organizations was made available to them, but having that data often improves care. Good infrastructure like an HIE quietly does this work in the background, often with little recognition.
Along with Civitas members’ role as critical infrastructure for healthcare, we talked with our panel of HIE and health collaborative experts about some of the hot topics in the community as a preview of what will be discussed at the upcoming Civitas Annual Conference. One of the most important topics in healthcare in general is the cuts and changes to Medicaid. These cuts are going to have a significant impact on most healthcare organizations, but that also presents an opportunity for HIEs and health collaboratives to assist provider organizations whose patients may need extra assistance and care.
While rural health issues are not a new focus area for the Civitas community, Ritzo, Santifer, and Cranshaw all mentioned that the RHTP (Rural Health Transformation Program) presents a really great opportunity for partners in the Civitas community to support states in improving rural health. They are hopeful that the funds back rural providers and communities with innovative approaches to solving some of the big challenges they have faced for too long – access to quality care and services, legacy data systems, workforce shortages, the digital divide, to name a few. Santifer mentioned that one of the things she’s most excited about at the Civitas Annual conference is hearing all of the different ways that states are approaching the rural health funds. We’ve definitely seen that no two states are the same, and so a lot of great innovation funded by RHTP will be shared.This is a tremendous opportunity to hear what is working and, in some cases, what is not.
With all of the various healthcare interoperability regulations out there, Kill the Clipboard, CMS Tech Ecosystem, TEFCA/QHINs, etc., I also asked the panel about the positive impact these regulations are having and some of the ways they could be improved. The panel suggested that there’s a lot of nuance to these regulations. For example, it may seem like a great idea to Kill the Clipboard, but many patients in some areas still really like the clipboard. We have to take these local nuances into account. That said, it is an exciting time for innovation and moving policy into practice. Examples of this will be discussed throughout the annual conference.
Finally, we asked the panel to share what they think will be some of the top conversations at the Civitas Annual Conference. Check out our interview with these experts to learn more about the latest developments in health data, health information exchange (HIE), and cross-sector approaches to improve community health.
Learn more about Civitas: https://civitasforhealth.org/
Learn more about Arkansas State Health Alliance for Records Exchange: https://sharearkansas.com/
Learn more about KC Health Collaborative: https://www.kchealthcollaborative.org/
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