north country health information network (nchin)

The North Country Health Information Network (NCHIN) is a private wide area network (WAN) operating in a secure environment.

The NCHIN is owned and operated by the North Country Health Consortium (NCHC). The NCHC is a New Hampshire non-profit Corporation and is approved as a 501(c)(3) organization by the Internal Revenue Service.

The purpose of the NCHIN is to provide secure internet/intranet connectively for health and human service professionals in the northern tier of New Hampshire who are members of the North Country Health Consortium.

NCHC members include 4 Critical Access Acute Care Hospital systems, 1 Acute Care Rural Hospital system, 2 330 funded Federally Qualified Community Health Centers, 2 freestanding non-profit home care agencies, 1 regional Mental Health and Developmental Services system and 1 three-county wide community action program. Currently the NCHIN has more than 1000 users.

The NCHIN provides members secure connectively via leased data lines and secure wireless connections. NCHIN member services include:

• Encrypted e-mail
• Secure web-site
• Single point of access for internet activity
• Remote access service that allows for secure data connections via VPN technologies
• Video conferencing for educational and diagnostic purposes

Security for the WAN starts at the internet connection with the firewall and a VPN and is enhanced by digital certificates issued to each user. Monitoring diagnostics are constantly employed to ensure the integrity of the firewall.