HIEs Grow Through Stimulus And Success
By Ken Congdon, editor in chief, Health IT Outcomes
HIEs (health information exchanges) aren't new. These regional frameworks for electronically sharing patient data have been launched sporadically over the past decade. Some have been funded by public or private grants, while others were built to function like profitable businesses, where physicians pay a monthly fee for the services provided by the HIE.
While the concept of an HIE isn't new, recently there has been a surge of new HIE activity among healthcare facilities. Much of this has been driven by the expectation that electronic data exchange will be a cornerstone of the EHR meaningful use criteria defined under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). Also, in support of ARRA, the federal government has also recently awarded grants to several states to develop HIEs including a $38.8 million grant to the California Health and Human Services Agency, a $28.8 million grant to the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, and a $22.4 million grant to the New York eHealth Collaborative.
Federal mandates and funding are certainly doing there part to drive HIE adoption. (There are currently about 200 HIEs in the U.S. and that number is growing rapidly). However, the successes existing HIEs have experienced — not only in facilitating the electronic exchange of patient data, but in improved patient care, and lower operating costs — are also encouraging more healthcare providers to form or join an HIE.
For example, a recent article in Information Week highlights four successful HIEs — The Louisiana Rural health Information Exchange (LaRHIX), The Michiana Health Information Network (MHIN), HealthBridge of Cincinnati, and Maryland's Chesapeake Regional Information System for our Patients (CRISP). LaRHIX has been instrumental in connecting poor, underserved patients in rural areas with specialists, providing a higher quality of care. MHIN physicians quote a $1 million reduction in transcription costs in the first year alone as a result of the HIE. HealthBridge and CRISP is ensuring local physicians have the latest information on patient conditions, treatments, and prescriptions for continuity of care.
Health IT Outcomes has also documented another successful HIE — The Long Island Patient Information Exchange (LIPIX). To date, 20 hospitals, 4 long-term care facilities, and 1 core laboratory are part of LIPIX. These facilities have fed approximately 1 million patient records into the system and LIPIX is currently working to add hospitals to the HIE.
While expensive to build and maintain, the payback these HIEs are providing though improved physician productivity and reduced operating expenses are evidence that this model should cut costs from the healthcare system in the long run. Furthermore, the real-time patient data these HIEs provide are a proven model for better, and more efficient, patient care going forward.
Ken Congdon is Editor In Chief of Health IT Outcomes. He can be reached at ken.congdon@jamesonpublishing.com.