Connex
Through Connex, a county behavioral health provider should be able to see a client's care activity across hospitals, health plans and other partners, not just what happened inside their own system.
Why this matters
County behavioral health providers today are often working from an incomplete picture. Data sits in disconnected EHR systems, sharing happens through fax and email instead of automated exchange, and providers have limited visibility into what is happening with a client outside their own system: a hospital stay, a visit to another provider, a transition between programs. Meanwhile, state and federal interoperability requirements such as CMS Interoperability, the California Data Exchange Framework and applicable FHIR-based standards keep expanding, and meeting them one custom interface at a time does not scale. Connex solves both problems at once: a single, standards-based connection that gives providers a fuller picture of the client in front of them, while satisfying the county's regulatory obligations.
What this is
Connex is California's statewide interoperability platform built specifically for county behavioral health, connecting a county's EHR to external partners such as hospitals, managed care plans, primary care providers and community-based organizations, through standards like FHIR, IHE and HL7. Instead of a provider needing separate connections to each partner, Connex acts as a single hub: information flows in from the network and is normalized into a consistent, usable format on the provider's end.
Because behavioral health data carries extra sensitivity, Connex builds in configurable consent management so information is only shared under the rules HIPAA and 42 CFR Part 2 require. It also includes an Enterprise Master Patient Index, which matches client identities correctly across systems, so a provider is not stitching together fragmented or duplicate records to figure out if two systems are describing the same person.
Who it is for
Healthcare and community providers and partners within the county behavioral health network of care, the staff who coordinate a client's care across settings, and the county's IT and compliance teams responsible for interoperability requirements.
Providers get a more complete view of the client without manually chasing records from outside partners. Compliance and IT staff get a standards-based way to meet state and federal exchange requirements without building and maintaining a separate interface for every partner.
Capabilities
What Connex does
Secure, standards-based exchange
Connects a county's EHR to external partners using standards such as FHIR, IHE and HL7, reducing the complexity of maintaining separate point-to-point interfaces with every partner.
Consent and privacy management
Configurable consent workflows help counties share data in a way that stays compliant with HIPAA and 42 CFR Part 2, without slowing providers down.
Enterprise Master Patient Index
Matches client identity across disparate systems, reducing duplicate records and giving providers a more complete, accurate picture of each client.
Bi-directional integration
Supports real-time data exchange as well as long-term reporting and analytics, so the same connection serves both day-to-day care coordination and county-level reporting needs.
County-led governance
Operated under a multi-county governance model, so counties retain direct input into priorities, policy and system development rather than adopting a vendor-directed roadmap.