scholarly journals What Affects Clinicians’ Usage of Health Information Exchange?

2011 ◽  
Vol 02 (03) ◽  
pp. 250-262 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Volk ◽  
S. Simon ◽  
D. Bates ◽  
R. Rudin

SummaryBackground: The ability to electronically exchange health information among healthcare providers holds enormous promise to improve care coordination and reduce costs. Provider-to-provider data exchange is an explicit goal of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and may be essential for the long-term success of the Affordable Care Act of 2010. However, little is known about what factors affect clinicians’ usage of health information exchange (HIE) functionality.Objective: To identify factors that affect clinicians’ HIE usage - in terms of frequency of contributing data to and accessing data from aggregate patient records - and suggest policies for fostering its usage.Methods: We performed a qualitative study using grounded theory by interviewing clinician-users and HIE staff of one operational HIE which supported aggregate patient record functionality. Fifteen clinicians were interviewed for one hour each about what factors affect their HIE usage. Five HIE staff were asked about technology and training issues to provide context. Interviews were recorded, transcribed and analyzed. Recruitment excluded clinicians with little or no familiarity with the HIE and was restricted to one community and a small number of specialties.Results: Clinicians were motivated to access the HIE by perceived improvements in care quality and time savings, but their motivation was moderated by an extensive list of factors including gaps in data, workflow issues and usability issues. HIE access intensities varied widely by clinician. Data contribution intensities to the HIE also varied widely and were affected by billing concerns and time constraints.Conclusions: Clinicians, EHR and HIE product vendors and trainers should work toward integrating HIE into clinical workflows. Policies should create incentives for HIE organizations to assist clinicians in using HIE, develop measures of HIE contributions and accesses, and create incentives for clinicians to contribute data to HIEs.

2021 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. e100241
Author(s):  
Job Nyangena ◽  
Rohini Rajgopal ◽  
Elizabeth Adhiambo Ombech ◽  
Enock Oloo ◽  
Humphrey Luchetu ◽  
...  

BackgroundThe use of digital technology in healthcare promises to improve quality of care and reduce costs over time. This promise will be difficult to attain without interoperability: facilitating seamless health information exchange between the deployed digital health information systems (HIS).ObjectiveTo determine the maturity readiness of the interoperability capacity of Kenya’s HIS.MethodsWe used the HIS Interoperability Maturity Toolkit, developed by MEASURE Evaluation and the Health Data Collaborative’s Digital Health and Interoperability Working Group. The assessment was undertaken by eHealth stakeholder representatives primarily from the Ministry of Health’s Digital Health Technical Working Group. The toolkit focused on three major domains: leadership and governance, human resources and technology.ResultsMost domains are at the lowest two levels of maturity: nascent or emerging. At the nascent level, HIS activities happen by chance or represent isolated, ad hoc efforts. An emerging maturity level characterises a system with defined HIS processes and structures. However, such processes are not systematically documented and lack ongoing monitoring mechanisms.ConclusionNone of the domains had a maturity level greater than level 2 (emerging). The subdomains of governance structures for HIS, defined national enterprise architecture for HIS, defined technical standards for data exchange, nationwide communication network infrastructure, and capacity for operations and maintenance of hardware attained higher maturity levels. These findings are similar to those from interoperability maturity assessments done in Ghana and Uganda.


Author(s):  
Gerald Beuchelt ◽  
Harry Sleeper ◽  
Andrew Gregorowicz ◽  
Robert Dingwell

Health data interoperability issues limit the expected benefits of Electronic Health Record (EHR) systems. Ideally, the medical history of a patient is recorded in a set of digital continuity of care documents which are securely available to the patient and their care providers on demand. The history of electronic health data standards includes multiple standards organizations, differing goals, and ongoing efforts to reconcile the various specifications. Existing standards define a format that is too complex for exchanging health data effectively. We propose hData, a simple XML-based framework to describe health information. hData addresses the complexities of the current HL7 Clinical Document Architecture (CDA). hData is an XML design that can be completely validated by modern XML editors and is explicitly designed for extensibility to address future health information exchange needs. hData applies established best practices for XML document architectures to the health domain, thereby facilitating interoperability, increasing software developer productivity, and thus reducing the cost for creating and maintaining EHR technologies.


2020 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brandon Gregory ◽  
Jordan Hill ◽  
Titus Schleyer

Background and Hypothesis:  In the US today, over 95% of healthcare institutions operate using the electronic health record (EHR). While proven to be a substantial improvement to medical practice, the substantial amount of retained information within those records has made searching the EHR for relevant material difficult and too time consuming. We hypothesize that by providing a search function within the EHR with added capability of collaborative filtration, physicians will be better able to retrieve important patient information and thus provide more efficient care.     Project Methods:   Emergency Department physicians of Sidney & Lois Eskenazi Hospital and Indiana University Health Hospital were recruited to partake in this study based on their use and familiarity of the EHR Cerner and/or Health Information Exchange (HIE) CareWeb Search function. Participants filled out a pre-interview, Likert-scale questionnaire to determine their general impressions of search functions and the frequency with which they were used. Additional insight was obtained during an interview focusing on participants’ previous experiences searching within the EHR/HIE. Participants were then shown a mock-up of potential collaborative filtering integration into CareWeb in order to collect opinions regarding the feature’s usability/practicality, display/format, and a number of suggested terms.    Results:   From the pilot study, current challenges that limit clinician search function use include limited time in clinician workflow, information overload, and inaccurate results. Clinicians are more likely to conduct searches when treating patients who have limited medical history, complex histories, known recent visitations, and/or who have been seen at other institutions. Participants demonstrated interest in a collaborative filtration search feature; they expressed a preference to have the feature recommend five related search terms.    Potential Impact:   The data from this study aims to refine the way healthcare providers search within the EHR/HIE. This will allow healthcare providers to more efficiently extract relevant patient information for improved healthcare delivery and proficient clinician workflow. 


2013 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 38-46
Author(s):  
Alice M. Noblin ◽  
Kendall Cortelyou-Ward

Florida began the journey to health information connectivity in 2004 under Governor Jeb Bush. Initially these efforts were funded by grants, but due to the downturn in the economy, the state was unable to support growth in 2008. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009 provided funding to further expand health information exchange efforts across the country. As a result, Florida was now able to move forward and make progress in information sharing. Harris Corporation was contracted to provide some basic services to the health care industry in 2011. Since then, the Florida HIE has begun to take shape and information sharing is occurring. The ARRA funding will end in 2014 and the Florida HIE must have a plan to survive into the future. This plan must address challenges such as the recruitment of new users, integration of new services, and ultimately long term sustainability.


2018 ◽  
Vol 84 (1) ◽  
pp. 175-182 ◽  
Author(s):  
Teresa M. Bell ◽  
Dannielle Gilyan ◽  
Brian A. Moore ◽  
Joel Martin ◽  
Blessing Ogbemudia ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Ehsan Bitaraf ◽  
Fatemeh Sarani Rad ◽  
Maryam Jafarpour ◽  
Vajiheh Jami ◽  
Ebrahim Keshavarz Safari ◽  
...  

Today, the demand for health-oriented systems to facilitate and improve treatment processes is growing. For different information systems with different structures and technologies to be able to communicate with each other, a single gateway is required. The gateway acts as an interface between information systems and unifies protocols, rules, and standards related to communication processes. Health-related systems need a unique regulator that explains data models, coding, and data exchange structures. Moreover, the gateway has control over information systems and the data transmitted between them. In this paper, we explain an integrated gateway of health information exchange named DITAS which is a bridging point between health-related systems.


2018 ◽  
Vol 09 (04) ◽  
pp. 752-771 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clemens Kruse ◽  
Gabriella Marquez ◽  
Daniel Nelson ◽  
Olivia Palomares

Background Legislation aimed at increasing the use of a health information exchange (HIE) in healthcare has excluded long-term care facilities, resulting in a vulnerable patient population that can benefit from the improvement of communication and reduction of waste. Objective The purpose of this review is to provide a framework for future research by identifying themes in the long-term care information technology sector that could function to enable the adoption and use of HIE mechanisms for patient handoff between long-term care facilities and other levels of care to increase communication between providers, shorten length of stay, reduce 60-day readmissions, and increase patient safety. Methods The authors conducted a systematic search of literature through CINAHL, PubMed, and Discovery Services for Texas A&M University Libraries. Search terms used were (“health information exchange” OR “healthcare information exchange” OR “HIE”) AND (“long term care” OR “long-term care” OR “nursing home” OR “nursing facility” OR “skilled nursing facility” OR “SNF” OR “residential care” OR “assisted living”). Articles were eligible for selection if they were published between 2010 and 2017, published in English, and published in academic journals. All articles were reviewed by all reviewers and literature not relevant to the research objective was excluded. Results Researchers selected and reviewed 22 articles for common themes. Results concluded that the largest facilitator and barrier to the adoption of HIE mechanisms is workflow integration/augmentation and the organizational structure/culture, respectively. Other identified facilitator themes were enhanced communication, increased effectiveness of care, and patient safety. The additional barriers were missing/incomplete data, inefficiency, and market conditions. Conclusion The long-term care industry has been left out of incentives from which the industry could have benefited tremendously. Organizations that are not utilizing health information technology mechanisms, such as electronic health records and HIEs, are at a disadvantage as insurers switch to capitated forms of payment that rely on reduced waste to generate a profit.


Author(s):  
Chaojie Wang

Clinical decisions require timely availability of holistic patient health information including clinical, demographic, behavioral, and socioeconomic risk factors. Health information exchanges (HIEs) help bridge the technical and organizational divides between disparate Electronic health records (EHR) systems and facilitate the sharing of health information between providers and between patients and providers through collaborative governance, secure protocols, and interoperable standards. HIEs come in many varieties and can be highly complex, both technically and organizationally. This conceptual paper adopts a system of systems (SoS) framework from the systems engineering discipline to analyze and break down the complexity of HIEs. The mnemonic nature of the five characteristics of the Boardman and Sauser SoS Model (A for Autonomy, B for Belonging, C for Connectivity, D for Diversity, and E for Emergence) makes it easier to understand the intricacy of HIEs and helps remove the barriers to effective use of HIEs for care coordination, patient safety, and patient-centered care quality.


2012 ◽  
Vol 03 (02) ◽  
pp. 197-209 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. Barrón ◽  
R.V. Dhopeshwarkar ◽  
R. Kaushal ◽  
L.M. Kern

SummaryBackground: Health information exchange is a national priority, but there is limited evidence of its effectiveness.Objective: We sought to determine the effect of health information exchange on ambulatory quality.Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study over two years of 138 primary care physicians in small group practices in the Hudson Valley region of New York State. All physicians had access to an electronic portal, through which they could view clinical data (such as laboratory and radiology test results) for their patients over time, regardless of the ordering physician. We considered 15 quality measures that were being used by the community for a pay-for-performance program, as well as the subset of 8 measures expected to be affected by the portal. We adjusted for 11 physician characteristics (including health care quality at baseline).Results: Nearly half (43%) of the physicians were portal users. Non-users performed at or above the regional benchmark on 48% of the measures at baseline and 49% of the measures at follow-up (p = 0.58). Users performed at or above the regional benchmark on 57% of the measures at baseline and 64% at follow-up (p<0.001). Use of the portal was independently associated with higher quality of care at follow-up for those measures expected to be affected by the portal (p = 0.01), but not for those not expected to be affected by the portal (p = 0.12).Conclusions: Use of an electronic portal for viewing clinical data was associated with modest improvements in ambulatory quality.


Author(s):  
Mark E. Frisse ◽  
Karl E. Misulis

Even when restricting the focus of care to hospitals and ambulatory clinics, most individuals seek care from many practitioners operating in different locations and often employing different electronic health records. Early efforts at creating interoperable data exchange among these systems have often disappointed users and administrators. Effective collaboration is a prerequisite for effective healthcare delivery. Even if using different EHRs, every clinician and caregiver should share a common clinical record set and means of communicating to other providers. Recent collaborative efforts among major electronic health record vendors are simplifying exchange of information among hospitals and large clinics, but they have not yet sufficiently addressed the necessary broader exchange of healthcare data among the caregivers in alternative settings and in the home.


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