A new study reported in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association revealed that health information exchanges (HIEs) are fulfilling their promise, delivering a wide range of highly anticipated benefits to providers and patients alike.
The study showed that HIE use led to fewer duplicated procedures, a reduction in the use of imaging, a decrease in costs and improvements in patient safety.
Researchers from Indiana University and the health-focused Regenstrief Institute examined 63 individual analyses of the topic, about 40 percent of them involving HIEs in New York. The findings from this review counter earlier, smaller scale research efforts—termed “methodologically limited” by the study’s authors—that uncovered little evidence of HIE benefits.
Analyses of community HIEs, such as Hixny, were more likely to demonstrate benefits than evaluations of enterprise HIEs (within an individual health system) or vendor-mediated exchanges, according to the study.
“High-quality evidence exists to link HIEs with a reduction in healthcare utilization and costs,” the authors concluded. “This represents progress in reaching the national goals of more accessible patient information in support of the triple aim of better quality, improved population health, and lower costs.”
“This rigorous new research validates what we have experienced firsthand: that HIEs like Hixny are helping to improve patient care and efficiency while lowering the costs of healthcare,” said Hixny CEO Mark McKinney.
