Alternatives to CONNECT adapter to interface with NHIN network?

Question

I'm researching alternatives to the federally backed CONNECT adapter for building a custom adapter to connect to the Nationwide Health Information Network (NHIN). Is CONNECT the only available solution, or are there other solutions as well?

Answer 1

I don't see any alternative currently. I also don't see much of a prospect for one, when CONNECT is addressing an incredibly complex challenge, has broad governmental support, is open source, and is actively being developed.

Answer 2

Very late answer, but there is an alternative now: http://aurionproject.org/

This is indeed based on CONNECT, however.

Answer 3

Aurion is a dead project, has not had contributions in years. CONNECT has had it's pitfalls, but has improved greatly in the past few years. Money has dried up though, so major releases won't happen often anymore. AFAIK there aren't any open-source competitors to CONNECT for interfacing with the NwHIN (or eHealthExchange). Aurion was created as a response to losing a contract and tried to compete, but I would guess they had issues funding the project. It's too bad though since competition would have been good.

The most recent releases (3.3.x and 4.x) are major improvements over past design and performance. Backwards compatibility with previous NwHIN specs has been maintained, and internally it's a whole new product.

There are alternatives to CONNECT, but they involve commercial partners. For example, hospitals that use Epic software can purchase Epic's solution.

If you are looking to get onto the Exchange without commercial partners, CONNECT is your best (or only) bet.

source: previously on the CONNECT dev team.