Community Information Exchange

What is community information exchange? 

The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services recognizes the 2-1-1 San Diego definition of community information exchange. 

"A CIE is a community-led ecosystem of multidisciplinary network partners that use a shared language, resource database, and integrated technology platform to deliver enhanced community care planning. CIE enables communities to shift from a reactive approach to addressing social needs, to an approach that is more proactive, holistic, and person-centered. At the very core of CIE is the community it serves, and with the community as its compass, a CIE seeks to support antiracism and health equity."

Organizations across Michigan use different websites, software systems, and data systems to provide health, human, and social services to community members. These systems do not always talk to each other, often making it difficult for organizations to know how to help, and for people to get the help they need when they need it. 

A successful community information exchange serves community by making it easier to know what services are available and how people can access those resources. 

• A CIE can look like a clinic and a transportation nonprofit sharing data to make sure a senior citizen gets a ride to the doctor's office.
• A CIE can look like organizations across a community sharing data to know how many emergency shelter beds are available. 

CIE is not one system or database. Instead, CIE connects systems by making sure they are interoperable. Interoperable means that all of our systems, now and in the future, are able to share information back-and-forth. But CIE is not just about interoperable technology. If people don't feel comfortable sharing their personal data or if organizations don't see how CIE can make a difference, it won't work. We need people and organizations using our current systems to guide us.

Community Information Exchange Advisory Committee

December 2024-Present

In September 2024, the Health Information Technology Commission established the Community Information Exchange Advisory Committee tasked with developing a proposal for statewide governance of CIE in alignment with the recommendations of the CIE Task Force Final Report. 

The CIE Advisory Committee aims to achieve the following deliverables: 

1. Develop data standards for design and implementation of CIE. 
2. Establish use cases and processes to ensure equitable outcomes of CIE.
3. Recommend a baseline architecture for cross-sector identify matching (leveraging existing infrastructure).
4. Propose mechanisms to enforce the rights of consumers and CIE participants, through formal representation of affected parties in governance processes, iterating on the established Consumer Bill of Rights. 
5. Identify policy framework and regulatory barriers to implementation of CIE. 
6. Establish minimum standards for Coordinating Entities. 
7. Provide guidance to the implementation of CIE pilots. 
8. Channel learnings to the federal level. 

You can find the full CIE Advisory Committee Charter and membership here. 

Community Information Exchange Task Force

August 2022-August 2023

In August 2022, MDHHS established the CIE Task Force to develop a statewide strategy to develop infrastructure, policies, and practices for the collection and use of social care data across communities. The CIE Task Force brought together community-based organizations (CBO), health care, health IT, governmental entities to understand the existing infrastructure of CIE activities in Michigan.

In August 2023, the CIE Task Force published its Final Report that outlines a statewide blueprint for CIE, honoring that coordinated care and health equity, supported by electronic exchange of information, is vital to improving the health and well-being of individuals.