Module Components

• Overview

Topics

• EHR Standards
• EHR Interoperability
• Health Information Exchange

Nurs460 – Health Informatics for Registered Nurses

Module 7: Electronic Health Record Standards and Interoperability

Health Information Exchange

Learning Activity
Review link Standards and Interoperability http://www.healthit.gov/providers-professionals/standards-interoperability

View video on Health Information Exchange – Virtual Medical Home (HIPTN in Tennessee (11:18 minutes) at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2r7q8tRuGqA

What is HIE?

Health Information Exchange (HIE) refers to the ability of healthcare institutions and agencies to share individual health information electronically. Repositories of information are extracted from EMR/EHR systems and held within a centralized infrastructure for exchange by state or regional information organizations (RHIO). Repositories of health information may include:

• Allergy and medication profiles
  
• Problem lists
  
• Laboratory results
  
• Radiology images and interpretations
  
• Treatment plans and more

The goal is for the RHIO HIE to link into a National Health Information Network (NHIN).
This would foster a bidirectional sharing of patient health-related information to primary providers (NP, MD, PA, Dentists, Specialists); hospitals, ambulatory centers, nursing homes, audiologists, optometrists, and rehabilitation medication. Each would contribute to the collection of information for the EHR/PHR.

Benefits and Barriers to HIE

Benefits:

• enhance personal health outcomes
  
• enhance clinical decision making for providers
  
• enhance plan of care, care coordination, and evaluate outcomes
  
• manage operations and quality improvement
  
• evaluate population health, safety, surveillance
  
• recommend changes in health policy

Barriers:

• Governance/Regulatory Authority (Who will monitor? Certification? Ownership?)
  
• Sustainability (How can we keep it going?)
  
• Funding (Who pays for all this?)
  
• Lack of standards (Whose data? What standards? Interoperability?)
  
• Technical design (What model will we use?)
  
• Operational process (How will this work?)
  
• Security (Is it safe? How will we protect the data?)
  
• Provider/consumer resistance (Why do I need this? How will I benefit?)

Definitions

• Health Information Exchange: “The electronic movement of health-related information among organizations according to nationally recognized standards.” (DHHS 2008, p.6)