Information Gathering
What is an Health Information Exchange (HIE)?
A health information exchange, or HIE, is a clinically integrated network of healthcare organizations and business necessity stakeholders where electronic patient data or related clinical information is shared to promote interoperabilty of systems and processes to improve patient care
Benefits of HIEs
Structures
- Facilitates sharing between healthcare companies
- Lessens impact of physical distances
- Connects disparate systems and vendors
Process
- Streamlines health information requests
- Minimizes physical storage
- Maximizes human capital
Outcomes
- Continuity of care
- Reduced scheduling delays
- Increased patient satisfaction
What is a Patient Portal?
A patient portal is a electronic web-based communication tool allowing for seamless interaction between healthcare delivery providers and patients both before and after an encounter. Patient portals can be used to make appointments, receive test results, follow-up on labs, track prescriptions, submit questions, provide customer feedback, and complete billing issues.
Benefits of Patient Portals
Structures
- Facilitates messaging with patients
- Provides business line efficiency
Process
- Streamlines patient encounters
- Reduced patient to facillty followup
- Automates recurring messages
Outcomes
- Continuity of care and outcomes
- Reduced previsit paperwork
- Avoids clinical and patient billing errors
Why HIEs and Patient Portals Are Different from EMRs
- EMRs are primarily accessed by physicians or other clinicians and are the main patient record
- Patient portals are primarily accessed by patients and do not take clinical precedence over the health record
- HIEs are primarily accessed by clinicians or internal departments and are used to exchange useful patient information outside of the organization, connecting separate EMR systems
- Patient portals and HIEs can be standalone offerings or extensions/modules of an EHR