Health Information Exchange ( Hie ) : Benefits And Challenges Essay

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.

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.

Electronic health information exchange allows doctors, nurses, pharmacists, other health care providers and patients to access and securely share a patient’s vital medical information electronically improving the speed, quality, safety and cost of patient care. In this paper I am going to explain the challenges of exchanging health information, privacy and security concerns, cost of set up and maintenance. Also, the three different types of exchanges. The benefits of health information exchange.

With the enthusiasm for health information technology, potential risks and problems associated with electronic health records have received far less attention. Three fundamental security goals are essential to EHR systems: confidentiality, integrity and availability (Haas e26). Patients lose the protection of implied trust domain of medical institutions due to their medical record maintenance performed by non-medical enterprises (e27). Depending on the paradigm, enabling access to an increased number of users poses threats to security and privacy.

Healthcare systems are highly complex, fragmented, and use multiple information technology systems and vendors who incorporate different standards resulting in inefficiency, waste, and medical errors (Healthinformatics, 2016). A patient 's medical information often gets trapped in silos, which prevents information from being shared with members of the healthcare community (Healthinformatics, 2016). With increasing healthcare costs, a system needed to be created that would lead to the development and nationwide implementation of an interoperable health information technology system to improve the quality and efficiency of healthcare. Introducing the National Health Information Network (NHIN), this organization can be defined as a set of

14. Capability to exchange key clinical information among providers of care and patient-authorized entities electronically

Modern communications capabilities open up a world of possibilities for all types of medical practices to develop deeper connections with their patients and to manage health care remotely. The HIPAA Privacy Rule gives patients the right to obtain copies of their medical records, treatments and protected health information or PHI. These requirements go further if medical providers want to receive reimbursement from Medicare and Medicaid -- patients must be able to access their records online, download copies and transmit the information to third-party providers. Most medical practices are finding it necessary to develop patient portals where patients and physicians can interact, share information and perform important functions such as practices billing patients and accepting payments online. HIPAA 's rules require that these patient portals have strong security and privacy protections to prevent unauthorized access of these confidential PHI records.

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).

(ONC) is to coordinate “national efforts to implement and use the most advanced health information technology and the electronic exchange of health information … to improve health care” (Health and Human Services [HHS], n.d., website). However, sharing confidential information found in the electronic health record (EHR) for research and quality improvement potentiate legal, financial and ethical challenges.

AHIMA recognizes that superior quality health care and clinical data are critical resources needed for effective healthcare, and works to assure that the health information used in care, research, and health management is valid, accurate, complete, trustworthy, and timely. This group is concerned about the effective management of health information from all sources and its application in all forms of healthcare and wellness preservation. Health issues, disease, and care quality also transcend across national borders. AHIMA’s professional interest is in the application of best health information management practices when and wherever they are needed. (The American Health Information Management Association, 2010).

A Health Information Exchange, or HIE, is technology that enables the electronic movement of health-related information among health care providers and others. HIEs are an

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 has existed for over two decades. In the 1990s there were attempts to organize networks. It began in 2006 by Governor Sonny Perdue. The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services is responsible for setting the standards for national health information exchange.

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