Question

Explore the functionality of the health information exchange (HIE). Both regional and local exchanges can provide benefits to both patients and healthcare providers. Evaluate the benefits and level of adoption of these information exchanges. Relate these benefits to population health management. Evaluate the value and usefulness of information exchanges. Analyze and suggest how patient continuity of care can be improved by access to an HIE.

Answer 1

The term Health Information Exchange is coined to describe the concrete 'give and take' of patient health data across electronic platforms or between providers. It can be used in a more conceptual sense to frame the idea of the fluid movement of health data as it changes hands or 'health information exchanges' may also refer to the organization or entity facilitating the transfer of information.

The Health Information Exchange acts as a repository of important health information of patients which are stored in the health care system of different health care centers and hospitals which the patients visited to undergo treatment at some point or the other.

It provides a platform from which the medical history of patients are readily available from connected health care centers and can be used at the time of diagnostics of the patient. This can be really useful in order to understand the medical history of patients and to understand the previous symptoms and prescribe accordingly.

Most of the cases a patient is treat in a new way when he visits a new health care system and a new point of view is developed on hoe to go forward to treating the patient. This is more like a trial and error method as the case is diagnosed and based on the assumption of a doctor or teams of doctor a decision of way forward is taken without knowing the medical history figures.

A information system that Health Information Exchange Provides is really useful where the doctors can consult with the previous medical history of the patients and then in a better informed manner set the remedial care path for the patient.

The primary function of an HIE is to permit access to clinical information on demand at the point of care," according to an American Health Information Management Association report. "A successful HIE depends on trust between the patient, the healthcare provider and the HIE.

Both regional and local exchanges can provide benefits to both patients and healthcare providers. Evaluate the benefits and level of adoption of these information exchanges.

Benefits of Health Information System:

• It provides a framework for improving quality and safety of patient care by reducing medication and medical errors.
• Stimulates consumer education and patients' involvement in their own health care as they can manage the rights of their records.
• Increases efficiency by eliminating unnecessary paperwork and time spent on communicating the right information from sources.
• Provides Health Care Centers with clinical decision support tools for more effective care and treatment and fosters an informed decision.
• Saves time and resources by eliminating redundant or unnecessary testing and drugs prescription.
• Setup an improved public health reporting and monitoring framework across health care experts.
• Creates a potential loop for feedback between health-related research and actual practice with real life case studies and remedies.
• Provides a basic level of interoperability among electronic health records (EHRs) maintained by individual physicians and organizations.

Though the level of adoption of the Health Information System needs to be increased there is substantial information that is available with many renowned health care facilities connected with many health information exchanges currently.

Government regulations play a big role in imposing the right regulations to rope in each and every health care facility in the preview of a centralized Government funded Health Information System for holistic benefit of this useful resource.

Relate these benefits to population health management.

Population Health Management seeks to improve the health outcomes of a group by monitoring and identifying individual patients within that group.

PHM programs use a business intelligence (BI) tool to aggregate data and provide a comprehensive clinical picture of each patient. Using that data, providers can track, and hopefully improve, clinical outcomes while lowering costs.

Relation to Health Information System:

• The health information system also aggregates the data from connected health care facilities and displays it on demand. The PHM displays a repost of data on the individual patients from a specific group. PHM data is category wise and HIS data is more of holistic type.
• Health Information System also like PHM has collaborations with stakeholders for collection and reproduction of information.
• PHM uses Business Intelligence (BI) algorithms to short data whereas the HIS uses the data shorted in according to patients and sources.