Health Information Exchange (HIE) refers to the process of reliable and interoperable electronic health-related information sharing conducted in a manner that protects the confidentiality, privacy, and security of the information. Electronic health information exchange (HIE) allows doctors, nurses, pharmacists, other health care providers and patients to appropriately access and securely share a patient’s vital medical information electronically—improving the speed, quality, safety and cost of patient care. Despite the widespread availability of secure electronic data transfer, most Americans’ medical information is stored on paper—in filing cabinets at various medical offices, or in boxes and folders in patients’ …show more content…
Stage 2 (2014) – Demonstrate health system improvement, with widespread adoption of data exchange and advanced care processes with decision support.
Stage 3 (2015+/-) – Transform healthcare and population health through HIT, with improvements in care, efficiency, and population health.
Health information exchanges (HIEs) are an appealing way of harnessing technology to improve care. Too often, doctors must make medical decisions based on incomplete clinical information. Electronic health records are part of the solution, but their full value won’t be achieved until they’re connected to provide a cross-institutional, comprehensive, timely and accessible view of a patient’s medical history. Public and private HIEs are creating the connections and clearinghouses to make this possible. However, while everyone recognizes that better information can lead to better care, financing HIEs has proved to be very challenging. One hope has been that HIEs could pay off quickly in early cost savings. It stands to reason that doctors wouldn’t need to order as many tests if they knew the results of previous ones, and early studies led to very promising projections of costly tests …show more content…
In addition to the significant operational and business efficiencies that providers can realize over time through secure, effective HIE, their ability to offer patients more personalized care will also improve. Because more vital patient information will be shared between stakeholders— including physicians, labs, clinics, hospitals, and the patients themselves—caregivers will have a more complete, more accurate picture of their patients’ health history. This should mean smarter medical decisions as well as fewer errors, unnecessary tests, and prescriptions. This increased data liquidity can also support translational research by more quickly getting critical data to and from the point of care and establishing the consent management needed to deliver care that is more