Study: Safety-net hospitals need health information exchange help

In theory, just about any facility can benefit from setting up a health information exchange with other local providers. In reality, however, some providers--notably safety-net hospitals--just don't have the means to support them properly.

The new study by Mathematica Policy Research, which was funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, concluded that there are several ways HIEs can improve care quality and cut costs, including allowing emergency care teams to access an unconscious patient's records; improving care for patients without primary care homes; and cutting down on duplicate tests for patients seeing varied providers.

However, even with the availability of stimulus funds, safety-net facilities face major challenges in rolling out an HIE, including lack of funding and knowledge, too little time and patient fears that HIEs lack privacy and security protections.

To encourage HIE development among safety-net providers, researchers recommended several actions, including creating a mobile education team to train rural facilities and getting legal health IT advice from federal government.

To learn more about this issue:
- read the Mathematica report (.pdf)
- read this iHealthBeat piece

Related Articles:
WellPoint deal lets health plan create national HIE
Study: States making headway on HIE privacy
Rural LA hospitals launch HIE

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