Contrary to early assessments of health information exchanges, a new review of recent studies found HIEs reduce the cost of healthcare and improve patient outcomes.
The new review looked at 24 articles that included 63 HIE analyses conducted between May 2014 and June 2017. The findings, published in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, "represent progress in reaching the national goals of better-quality care, improved population health and lower costs," said Nir Menachemi, PhD, a professor Indiana University Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis and the study's lead investigator.
Here are five things to know:
1. Among all analyses, 68.3 percent indicated HIEs resulted in a beneficial effect, while just 7.9 percent reported an unexpected adverse effect.
2. Some of the benefits from HIEs the study noted include: fewer duplicated procedures; reduced imaging; lower costs; and improved patient safety.
3. Community-based HIEs — such as those that enable any provider within a community to share information about patients — were more likely to be beneficial than proprietary or enterprise HIEs — such as those that limit access to an individual hospital or certain providers.
4. Before IU's systematic review, other studies had weak evidence that HIEs could reduce costs, limit use of health services or improve quality of care. One of those studies was published in 2015 and was also led by Dr. Menachemi.
5. "Up until this point, the promise of [HIE]s to improve care and reduce costs has been theoretical," Dr. Menachemi said in a press release. "We now have reasonably strong evidence that there are benefits to using [HIE]s."
Click here to download the study.
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