HIE efforts chugging along

All signs indicate that health information exchange is chugging along, according to the most recent announcements of creation, expansion and new efforts to maximize their benefits.

For example, Massachusetts went live with a statewide HIE and Ohio’s CliniSync is expanding.

Meanwhile, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) intends to survey a sample of clinical laboratories nationwide to develop a more complete understanding of existing laboratory exchange capabilities.

The Coastal Connect HIE (CCHIE) of North Carolina committed to the walk, crawl, run approach during the process of its creation and expansion. Executive Director Yvonne Hughes shared the organization’s experience during a webinar presented by the National eHealth Collaborative. She said that there’s been so much happening related to HIEs that everyone involved should take the opportunity to learn from each other.

CCHIE took a pragmatic approach to deployment, said Hughes. “Too much technology too quick will overwhelm providers. We learned that if we roll out too quickly, we will not get the utilization we were looking for.” A slow, controlled approach worked better. They also were careful to follow up with connected organizations to ensure end-user adoption.

Hughes said market research was an important element of the HIE’s success. “Putting a face with the name of the organization helped us establish early adopters.” Once they assessed organizations’ readiness and got the partners engaged, the HIE staff offered regional seminars and demonstrations. “We found that onsite visits and demonstrations helped them as well as helped us understand their workflows and needs.” When it came time for rollout, people could “see our logo and colors and understand the organization and what it represents.”

The HIE also conducted a needs assessment, asking providers in 12 counties to share thoughts about HIE, HITECH Act and EHRs. The respondents listed their top three concerns as high cost (71 percent), maintain privacy of data (61 percent) and potential disruption to practice flow (48 percent).

“We heard loud and clear that the physicians did not expect to never have a data breach but they wanted to know our policy in dealing with it,” said Hughes. “We made sure we addressed security during demonstrations.”

Read more about Coastal Connect and please share your facility’s experience with HIE.