Examples Of Interoperability In Healthcare

Healthcare providers and patients have since been allowed to securely access and share medical information electronically using the electronic health information exchange (HIE) system, thus improving quality care, safety, cost and swiftness.

One of the most important characteristics of an EHR while storing the clinical information is its ability to be interoperable: to share that information among other authorized users. If different information systems cannot communicate or interact with each other, then sharing is not possible. In order to achieve the objective to exchange clinical

Health Information Exchange (HIE) has become a major component in today’s healthcare. Health information exchange provides a secure way for providers to appropriately access and electronically share a patient’s medical information. Therefore, reducing duplicate testing, minimizing medication errors and providing a link among electronic health records (EHR) in order to provide quality healthcare.

Partners HealthCare is a non-profit, health system located in Boston that created a data based transformation (Davenport, 2013). It integrated a new system that aligned the participating organizations to cohesively run as one and to help shape the future of the organization. The system didn’t stop there as it was responsible for bettering the patient financing experience and the delivery of healthcare information to other organizations (Davenport, 2013). The initial goal of the organization was making patient care more affordable and accountable by providing integrated, evidence based, patient-oriented care.

The Health Information exchange really took off with the advent of computers and their ability to engage in communicating with one another. In 2006 the

Central line associated blood stream infections (CLABSI) are serious problems that affect each hospital in the United States. While CLABSI rates have decreased, they have not been eradicated. The amount that CLABSI has decreased has slowed substantially, and CLABSI continues to affect negatively affect patients. With the use of middle-range nursing theories such as The Synergy Model, CLABSI rates can be decreased in hospitals everywhere.

Health Information Exchange (HIE) supports both transferring and sharing of health related information that is usually stored in multiple organizations, while maintaining the context and integrity of the information being exchanged (HIE, 2014). The goal of health information exchange is to expedite access to and retrieve clinical data to provide safe efficient, effective, equitable, timelier patient-centered care (HIE, 2014). HIE “provides access and retrieval of patient information to authorized users in order to provide safe, efficient, effective, and timely patient care” (HIE, 2014).

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. With improving the value, speed, safety, and cost of the totals patient care.

HIE face a range of challenges as they try to get hundreds and even thousands of participants in sharing data. Getting data in front of doctors and other clinicians is one of the biggest challenges HIEs face. Ideally, it would be delivered directly to a providers' EMR system, so when a patient goes to an outside lab for blood tests, the results would show up in the electronic record at the doctor's office, and the doctor would be notified that the results are there. However, with limited EMR use across the country, HIEs have had to provide alternative delivery methods. HIE is considered to be one of the key components of the national health IT infrastructure being established by the HITECH Act. Policymakers and health care providers believe this health IT infrastructure will produce a number of benefits, many of which are directly related to HIE.

An Electronic Health Record is a computerized form of a patient’s medical chart. These records allow information to be readily available to authorized providers during a patient’s encounter with the healthcare system. These systems do not only contain medical histories, current medications and insurance information, they also track patients’ diagnoses, treatment plans, immunization dates, allergies, radiology images and lab tests/results (source). The fundamental aspect of EHRs is that they are able to share a patient’s information quickly across service lines and even between different healthcare organizations. Information is at the fingertips of lab techs, primary care physicians, pharmacies, clinics, etc. The

Health Information Exchange is the electronic movement of healthcare information amongst organizations according to the national standards. HIE as it is widely known, serves the purpose of providing a safe, timely, and efficient way of accessing or retrieving patient clinical data. Health Information Exchange allows for doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and other vital healthcare professionals to have appropriate access and securely share vital medical information regarding patient care. Health Information Exchange has been in efforts of developing for over 20 years in the United States. In 1990 the Community Health Management Information Systems (CHMIS) program was formed by the Hartford Foundation to foster a development of a centralized data repository in seven different geographically defined communities. Many of the communities struggled in securing a cost-effective technology with interoperable data sources and gaining political support. In the mid-1990s a similar initiative began known as the Community Health Information Networks (CHINs) with the intention of sharing data between providers in a more cost-effective manner. In 2004, the Agency for Healthcare Quality and Research Health Information Technology Portfolio was funded $166 million in grants and contracts to improve the quality and safety to support more patient-centered care. This was the beginning of the progress we have seen in HIE today. Health Information Exchange devolvement serves the purpose of improving

Health information technology (HIT) involves trading of health information in an electronic format to advance health care, reduce health expenditures, improve work efficiency, decrease medication errors, and make health care more accessible. Maintaining privacy and security of health information is crucial when technology is involved. Health information exchange plays an important role in improving the quality and delivery of health care and cost-effectiveness. “There is very little electronic information sharing among clinicians, hospitals, and other providers, despite considerable investments in health information technology (IT) over the past five years” (Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, 2014, p. 1).

The Health information exchange or also known as HIE is the sending of healthcare-related data electronically to facilities, health information organizations and government agencies according to national standards. The goal is to be able to access and retrieve data more efficient, safer, and to improve the quality of care and patient safety and reduce healthcare costs.

“An electronic health record (EHR) is a digital version of a patient’s paper chart. EHRs are real-time, patient-centered records that make information available instantly and securely to authorized users.” (healthit.gov) The EHR mandate was created “to share information with other health care providers and organizations – such as laboratories, specialists, medical imaging facilities, pharmacies, emergency facilities, and school and workplace clinics – so they contain information from all clinicians involved in a patient’s care.” ("Providers & Professionals | HealthIT.gov", n.d., p. 1) The process has proved to be quite challenging for providers. As an

Health information exchange and information technology are essential tools that healthcare providers and consumers often utilize to assist in improving health care. An electronic health information exchange promises potential benefits for health care systems through improved clinical care, reduced cost and the needed elements for a national health information network. As with any other industry, the exchange of such information has its many benefit, but it