What is a Health Information Exchange?

There is enormous potential for information technology to improve health care safety, cost, and quality. We now have numerous initiatives underway, in the U.S. and internationally, to create, transmit, store and manage health related data for individuals. Technology has and is rapidly advancing to support these projects.

However, to fully realize the benefits that information technology can provide to healthcare we must have an underlying infrastructure that supports the use of patient-focused electronic health information and goes beyond the current limitations of information delivery systems. The future for healthcare I.T. includes the process of sharing health-related information in a secure manner that protects the confidentiality of the information.

Demonstration:

This video (produced by the Colorado RHIO) is a short introduction to Health Information Exchange (HIE) and demonstration of the community health record. The demo features a fictitious scenario involving a 77 year-old female patient who is switching primary care providers. Her new physician uses the community health record portal to access her medical history including recent tests, medications and more.  The second video is from the Metro Chicago HIE.

Some of the components that support a healthcare technology infrastructure are the electronic medical record (EMR), electronic health records (EHR) for health care professionals, personal health records (PHR) for individuals, and health information exchanges (HIE) to bring the entire infrastructure together.  Then we have the regional health information organization (RHIO) which organizes all of these components into a local infrastructure.

What is a Health Information Exchange?

In the previous paragraph, the terms Health Information Exchange (HIE) and Regional Health Information Organization (RHIO) had different meanings. Many folks use them interchangeably. Seems like a familiar tussle – like the ongoing dialog of what is an EMR versus an EHR.  You won’t see the term RHIO used much as it is considered old-school.

Some folks will argue that the difference between an HIE and a RHIO is that a RHIO is a term used to represent the organization and governance of the entities that want to share information, whereas an HIE is the capability to move information electronically using national standards.

HIE is a Process

A Health Information Exchange solution connects information between healthcare providers by integrating disparate systems and enabling the exchange and use of critical patient information for making care related decisions at the point of care.

Health information exchange (HIE) refers to the process of enabling the reliable sharing of electronic health-related information among patient care related entities and networks. This sharing is done in a manner that protects the confidentiality, privacy, and security of the information. Central to this process is the use of nationally recognized standards currently in place and future ones as they are established.

HIEs can also provide key information to individuals to promote health and wellness, and can be used to support research, public health, emergency response, and quality improvement. Additionally, an HIE enables the sharing of health-related information among health care organizations and with individuals on a local, regional, and national basis.  HIEs are also a necessary ingredient in meeting Meaningful Use objectives.

RHIOs are Oversight Organizations

A Regional Health Information organization is an oversight organization. It is a health information organization that brings together health care stakeholders within a defined geographic area and governs health information exchange among them for the purpose of improving health and care in that community. As previously mentioned, you won’t see this term used very much as it has faded into the past (much like the term CHIN – Community Health Information Network).

A RHIO is a governance entity whose main purpose is to facilitate the accessibility and exchange of health-related data within a specific geographic area for the benefit of the people in that area. RHIOs enhance efforts to improve the quality, safety and efficiency of health and care within a defined geographic area.

And then there is the term HIO, which quite frankly I rarely ever hear used.

Understanding What an HIE is

HIEs are not bound by geography—they tie together sources of data from anywhere. HIEs bring together the labyrinth of health care related organizations we have scattered across the U.S.

HIE Definition 1

Health information exchange (HIE) is the transmission of healthcare-related data among facilities, health information organizations (HIO) and government agencies according to national standards. HIE is an integral component of the health information technology (HIT) infrastructure under development in the United States and the associated National Health Information Network (NHIN).

To meet requirements, HIE technology must enable reliable and secure transfer of data among diverse systems and also facilitate access and retrieval data. The purpose of HIE development is to improve healthcare delivery and information gathering.

HIE as Definition from Wikipedia

Health information exchange (HIE) is defined as the mobilization of healthcare information electronically across organizations within a region, community or hospital system.

HIE provides the capability to electronically move clinical information among disparate health care information systems while maintaining the meaning of the information being exchanged. The goal of HIE is to facilitate access to and retrieval of clinical data to provide safer and more timely, efficient, effective, and equitable patient-centered care. HIE is also useful to public health authorities to assist in analyses of the health of the population.

HIE systems facilitate the efforts of physicians and clinicians to meet high standards of patient care through electronic participation in a patient’s continuity of care with multiple providers. Secondary health care provider benefits include reduced expenses associated with:

• the manual printing, scanning and faxing of documents, including paper and ink costs, as well as the maintenance of associated office machinery
• the physical mailing of patient charts and records, and phone communication to verify delivery of traditional communications, referrals, and test results
• the time and effort involved in recovering missing patient information, including any duplicate tests required to recover such information

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Please comment and submit your HIE, RHIO or other related  information to us so we can list them on this blog.

Best Regards,

Mark Schwartz

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The Directory of health information exchanges in the United States. listed on the home page, right sidebar under HIEs RHIOs RECs by State is constantly changing. Please send us any updates or news you may have.