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Today's Health Information Exchanges
Here's how four HIEs are getting doctors to share patient data in ways that improve care and cut costs.
3 Min Read
InformationWeek Healthcare - October 2010
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Download the entire October 2010 issue of InformationWeek Healthcare, distributed in an all-digital format (registration required).
Today's Health Information Exchanges
When Dr. Mark Sandock's medical practice signed up to share data using the Michiana Health Information Network, five doctors in the internal medicine part of the group saved $1 million in transcription costs in the first year alone. Doctors at the South Bend, Ind., practice no longer have to dictate reports on lab and other medical tests for the hundreds of patients who are tested at outside facilities each week and whose results were previously sent back on paper. Instead, the MHIN network sends the doctor an e-mail alert when a patient's lab results are available, and it automatically feeds the results into the patient's electronic health record. "Quality of care is improved, and you're saving money at the same time," says Sandock, who's since retired from the medical practice and works as a consultant.Besides eliminating the need to transcribe lab and other reports, health information exchanges, or HIEs, ensure that all doctors providing care to a patient have the most up-to-date and comprehensive information on the patient's condition. They also speed decision-making by providing faster access to information; cut down redundant testing by providing results of all tests a patient has had; and ensure patient safety by letting all caregivers know medications a patient is taking and allergies he or she has.
Many HIEs let healthcare providers share patient data only with other practitioners and institutions in their local communities. Others connect providers across a region and, more recently, are developing connections across entire states and among neighboring states. The federal government is establishing standards to link HIEs into a national network.
Some HIEs focus on sharing a specific kind of data, such as problem and allergy lists, drug histories, hospital discharge summaries, and radiology and lab reports. Others are more comprehensive.
There are about 200 HIEs in the United States, according to the eHealth Initiative, a nonprofit group that advocates using IT to drive quality, safety, and efficiency in healthcare. That number is growing rapidly, particularly now that the federal government is expected to make exchanging patient data electronically part of the "meaningful use" criteria that physicians and hospitals must comply with to get funds under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Besides the EHR incentive money, the feds also are providing $564 million in ARRA funds to help states deploy exchanges and expand existing ones. Earlier this year, the Department of Health and Human Services awarded grants to states ranging from $4.6 million to $38.8 million.
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