Inova Health System in Falls Church, Va., was the first health system to go live on ConnectVirginia EXCHANGE, a statewide health information exchange. The health system's onboarding experience, as documented in a JMIR Medical Informatics study, reveals six best practices for connecting to an external HIE.
The study authors observed the initial go-live, conducted interviews with key stakeholders and reviewed documents between Aug. 12, 2012 and June 24, 2013. The implementation of the health system onto the HIE was a success, though the process revealed social and cultural factors to be significant in the process. The researchers report the following lessons learned for other organizations connecting to HIEs:
- Organizations need a willingness to develop workarounds to unexpected technical issues, such as incompatible EHRs.
- The implementation site needs to agree to prioritize HIE implementation.
- Health system leadership needs to engage in the process.
- Lines of communication need to be as open as possible between the HIE and the health system leadership.
- All needed staff members should be allocated to the project at the beginning.
- Project champions need the ability to make decisions or to delegate decision-making ability as they see fit.
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