Health Information Exchange Model

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).

“Go Paperless and Get Paid” is how the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) presents the incentives for electronic health records. The United States Department of Health and Human Services (U.S. Department of HHS) distributed more than $160 billion dollars to “improve and preserve health care, health information technology, community health, and prevention initiatives” (United States Department of Health and Human Services [HHS], 2014e). Likewise, the ONC offers “Health IT Adoption Programs” through the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, seeking to advance the American health care delivery system and to improve patient care through an unique investment towards health information technology (HHS, 2014d). Additionally, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 allows the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to reward eligible hospitals and professionals with monetary incentives as they implement, adopt, or upgrade and demonstrate meaningful use of certified electronic health record (EHR) technology (HHS, 2014b). The Electronic Health Records Improvement Act (H.R. 1331) introduced by the United States House of Representative Diane Black is a bill to further improve the nation’s health care adoption of health information technology.

The health IT system is essential to transform the delivery of health care. Innovation within the IT system includes efficient data use through warehouses as they expand health information, which allows for big improvements in the technological use. These improvements would ensure that data user safety will allow the smooth exchange of information transfer electronically between different health care providers. In this case, most hospital employees and health care organizations understand how the health information technology (IT) is important for the HCO’s functions. The passing of “the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) legislation in 2009, with its specific attention to advancing EHRs, federal dollars are dedicated to expanding EHR use in physician offices and more” (Abdelhak pg. 180). This shows that a federal government has an ability to change in the healthcare industry, so the government should incorporate science and technology development. The private sector and government funding resources will also have a significant impact to play a great role in the exploration of new software operations in terms of advancing the technological environment. Advancing this area of the organization encourages health Information

In 1990 Hartford Foundation funds, “Community Health Management Information Systems.” They gave grants to seven states and cities to develop those early prototype HIE’s. HIE focuses on quality assessments and cost reduction by streamlining patient eligibility information for billing. The problems of HIE are immature technology including slow internet connections and data integration. By the mid 1990’s Community Health

With HITECH, the Obama administration has given $34 billion dollars to fund the implementation of EHRs through an incentive based program. To qualify for this program, organizations must buy a government certified HER system and demonstrate “meaningful use” of the certified EHR technology. HITECH has created an essential foundation for restructuring health care delivery and for achieving the key goals of improving health care quality; reducing costs; and increasing access through better methods of storing, analyzing, and sharing health information. The HITECH Act supports the 5 pillars of health outcomes policy priorities as described under “meaningful use”. The act is also measured by a set of objectives: breadth of use (spread of HER use among medical staff); extent of use; and quality improvement (Meaningful use of EHRs, 2013). Originally the achievement of these objectives through meaningful use were set to be met by this year (2015), but an extension has been made until

Health information exchange (HIE) delivers information when and where it is needed to provide improvements in healthcare quality and efficiency. HIE requires essential coding standards throughout health information management so that information can be accessed, merged, divided and/or shared with other healthcare organizations. In order to reach interoperability; message, exchange, and terminological standards are a few key attributes needed. HL7 v2, CDA and RxNorm aid in reaching these standards to achieve HIE.

Health information exchange has become an increasingly important process in communication required in modern healthcare. This is so because currently, a person may be required to visit more than one specialist to treat diseases or manage diseased body conditions. Besides, sometimes a person could be involved in emergencies that require quick medical attention. During such times, it is not always possible to get the needed information readily. A reliable health information network is vital to ensure that a person’s medical records are easily retrievable from a secure database with authorized access. Health information allows doctors, nurses, pharmacists, other health care providers and patients to appropriately access and securely share a patient’s vital medical information (HealthIT.gov). The use of health information systems improves the quality, speed, safety and reduces the costs of healthcare especially if done through online platforms. The current Affordable Care Act that was passed in 201o increased the relevance of Health Information Exchange because a patient can now easily and more affordably see many specialists who will need to share data about that patient for diagnosis and treatment.

Over the last two decades the government, industry, and academia have been incraesingly recognizing the importance of health information technology. Healthcare has tended to lag other industries (like communications and financial services) in transiting to electronic records. However, as proprietary electronic medical record (EMR) systems get deployed at healthcare organization, so does the need increase to exchange records via a Health Information

The article primarily focused on health information exchange and provided a case related to the impact of interoperability and analytics had on an ecosystem. At the beginning of the article, it states that Triple Aim has three components which entail reducing the cost of care, improving the overall health of the population, and improving the patient experience. Triple aim imposes many challenges, however interoperability between HIE can help solve some of the current issues. Interoperability essentially means how well multiple health information systems work together to deliver effective healthcare.

If I were given the authority to create a Health Information Organization (HIO) for my local area I would desire the support of important stakeholders in my community that would be able to quickly and securely exchange health information (Florida Health Information Exchange a.k.a HIE) to increase efficiency of sharing and meaningfully using Electronic Health Records (HER) technology that allow for physicians to share patient medical records faster and with more accuracy. In my area participating health care providers of medical facilities including, radiology centers, diagnostic laboratories, and public health departments are important contributors in governing the health information exchange for the purpose of improving health and care in my community.

Health Information Exchange (HIE) signifies the transmission of health-related data between healthcare facilities, according to national government standards. HIE remains an essential component of the health information technology (HIT). HIE technology must facilitate reliable and secure transfer of data between diverse systems and also enable access and retrieval of data. The purpose of HIE development is to improve healthcare delivery and information gathering. An HIE is not an information system within a single organization. A true HIE involves multi-directional flow of information electronically between providers (hospitals, physicians, clinics, labs) and other sources of administrative or clinical information provided by health care providers

In order to qualify for these incentives, healthcare systems need to focus on advanced clinical processes such as health information exchange and increase patient-controlled data (Kruse, Bolton, & Freriks, 2015). Electronic communications can save time, effort, money, as well as improves patient outcomes, whether used to educate, remind, engage, monitor, provide feedback, or data information (Weaver, Lindsay, & Gitelman, 2012). Therefore, it is essential for hospitals to embrace healthcare information exchange technologies, to qualify for

Privacy and security issues such as, the ability to exchange and transmit information in support of improved care delivery for individual patients and improved population health requires an extensive commitment to developing policies over a wide range of issues. Including but not limited to: Data use limitations, Data ownership, Governance, Liability, Anti-trust. Roles and responsibilities of individuals and organizations are being handled by the RHIO (Regional Health Information Organizations) is a term that is being used in many discussions of health IT and HIE. In thinking about the role of State and local policy makers in HIE development, "regional health information organization" implies that a fully formed unit exists with rules of engagement and a model for operation.

Prior to 2009, inadequate participation in HIEs were reported due to lack of funding which resulted in “no viable business plan” (Clemens, Verna and Kurt, 2014). Thereafter, with the provision of financial incentive in HITECH Act, RHIN gained significant momentum in recruiting provider organizations for securely exchanging patient’s medical data. This resulted in the development of a viable business plan. In addition, assuring security of the patient data was another barrier for establishing RHIOs. RHIOs must maintain patient’s privacy and security in a manner that complies with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Some other key challenges faced in achieving long-term viability, broad participation and financial sustainability were providing technical support to its authorized users, integrating disparate data sources, and developing a technologically capable server to store patient data (Joshua & Larry, 2010). Thus, HITECH Act helped RHIN and other forms of HIEs in developing a more integrated and less wasteful healthcare delivery system.

The State HIE program falls under The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, and funds the implementation and creation of statewide health information exchange. States can work independently to complete the task, or they can combine their finances and work together on a multi-state program. The awardees have the important job of creating and putting into action a State plan that makes sure HIE is in effect statewide before Medicare payment penalties begin in 2015. This program is an application based one, and with that comes criteria for approval. So the awardees are impacted by licensure, certification, or accreditation standards