The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality granted Indianapolis-based Regenstrief Institute an award to study health information exchanges' relation to emergency department outcomes.
The two-year grant will allow Regenstrief scientists to evaluate if HIEs improve emergency care by measuring HIE use over time and across multiple institutions.
Specifically, Regenstrief researchers will examine usage logs from the Indiana Network for Patient Care to measure how frequently HIE information was used at EDs. They will analyze what kinds of patients used the ED, what type of healthcare providers were involved, when the information was most useful and what sections of patients' medical records providers accessed. Then researchers will review each visit's outcome to see if patients were admitted to the hospital.
"Findings from our new study could serve as a report card on potential benefits of HIE and as a template for HIEs as they mature," said Regenstrief investigator Brian Dixon, PhD, an assistant professor of epidemiology at Indianapolis-based Indiana University.
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