Health information exchanges operate much like social media in certain elements, and understanding these functions can help demonstrate the value HIEs can have in the healthcare industry, according to Niram Yaraghi, a fellow in the Brookings Institution's Center for Technology Innovation.
In a Brookings Institution blog, Mr. Yaraghi writes while Facebook is a platform on which users can share selfies, HIEs are platforms on which physicians can share clinical data.
"The utility of Facebook for a user depends on the number of virtual friends that he or she has on the network," Mr. Yaraghi writes. "The experience for a Facebook user with no connections is one that is fundamentally broken."
In a similar vein, if no physicians are on an electronic data exchange, its usability is less than optimal.
There are three main factors that follow the culture of social media that can encourage physicians to adopt and use HIEs, Mr. Yaraghi writes.
1. Referred patients. Practices are more likely to use HIEs if they receive referrals from other practices, as patient data in the HIE allows physicians to access necessary clinical information from the referring physicians.
2. Bridging the gap between long distances. "Similar to other networks like Facebook, HIE systems have more value if there is a considerable physical distance between the users," Mr. Yaraghi writes. Rural practices often find significant value in HIEs as obtaining patient data through other methods can be burdensome.
3. Peer influence. Word-of-mouth and peer influence are significant information vehicles, according to Mr. Yaraghi. He writes medical practices that employ physicians who use HIEs at other facilities are often more knowledgeable of the functions of electronic data exchanges, and such facilities often are more likely to adopt and use HIEs. Furthermore, small practices who share patients and physician with larger practices are also more likely to use HIEs.
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