Health Information Exchange Summary

“Electronic health information exchange (HIE) allows doctors, nurses, pharmacists, other health care providers and patients to appropriately access and securely share a patient’s vital medical information electronically—improving the speed, quality, safety and cost of patient care” (HealthIT, 2014). Health Information exchange is becoming important in the communication between providers to provide the best care possible to patients. Every state along with their hospitals has their own way of exchanging information between each other.

Kaiser Permanente has been equipped since 2007 with Health Connect; which is the largest private electronic health record implementation in the world. This is a highly sophisticated electronic program that integrates inpatient, outpatient, and clinic medical records with appointments, registration, pharmacy, and billing for all kaiser members. In addition, this electronic program includes an entire medical library with a whole set of care support tools which are accessible to doctors, nursing staff and patients (Kaiser Permanente, n.d.).

Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act-HIPAA, was introduced in Congress as the Kennedy-Kassebaum Bill and later passed in 1996. Before HIPAA, there was no federal standardization when it came to health care programs and information, and it was up to the state to create these rules and regulations. The rules and regulations were also fragmented among government agencies. Since there was no standard authority to combat against fraud and abuse in state and federal health care programs, it became a major issue that could not be ignored. For this reason, HIPAA was created with the objective to provide provisions for the prevention of fraud and abuse, and to ensure that individuals would be able to maintain their health insurance between

Health information exchange or HIE allows doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and other health care providers and patients to access vital medical information. It also allows them to share medical information securely and electronically. HIE improves the speed, quality, safety, and the cost of patient care.For many years patient's files were stored using paper methods, transferring them by mail, fax or transferred it by hand to every appointment. Changing to electronic file improves the completeness of patient's medical records. It makes decision making of healthcare providers avoid readmissions, avoid medication errors, improve diagnosis, and decreases the amount of times test are reordered. There are other benefits to health information exchange

Health information technology can advance the health of individuals and aid with the performance of providers to produce and improve quality and cost savings in patients’ health. In 2009, Congress passed, and former President Obama signed into law the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Buntin, Burke, Hoaglin and Blumenthal, 2011). Authorized by the HITECH Act, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology’s (ONC) has worked on health IT. The Health IT created legislation and regulations to provide requirements and certification criteria that the EHRs must meet to ensure health care

Electronic Health Records are important to improving the quality of care provided, being able to find a patients history of care at a click of a button. The healthcare facility will produce better outcomes in EHRs with the

In her assessment of the American Reinvestment & Recovery Act (ARRA), Murphy (2009) discusses how its enactment provided unprecedented funding for the advancement of health information technology (HIT) which served to promote health care reform. Electronic health records (EHRs) by extension received a boost via incentivization for appropriate use in hospitals and ambulatory settings (Murphy, 2009). The benefits of EHRs include the ability to improve the delivery and quality of nursing care, the ability to make more timely and efficient nursing care decisions for nursing, the ability to avoid errors that might harm patients and the ability to promote health and wellness for the patients (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2015).

Other than HIPAA, Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act is a major federal policy initiative that affects the healthcare information technology (HIT) in the past years. However, its policy is used to protect the EHR system from a security breach that can cause multi-million dollar fines to the company (Campus Safety Magazine, 2010). In 2009, President Obama signed HITECH Act as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to support the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) with authority, so it can establish programs that will improve healthcare quality, safety, and efficiency using HIT (Hebda & Czar, 2013).

The American Health Information Management Association. (2017). Migrating from Paper to EHRs in Physician Practices. Retrieved from http://library.ahima.org/doc?oid=103171#.WXosDojyvIUand Using Computerized Medical Records, 3rd Edition. [Bookshelf Online]. Retrieved from

Providers across the U.S. are turning to the Health Information Exchange also known as HIE. HIE provides secure online access to patients charts among a network of providers, hospitals, clinics, doctor’s offices, and pharmacies who join in the exchange, so they can have timely electronic access to records their patients will allow them to share. For patients this means having their medical records available no matter where they go and for providers it means having instant access to life saving information when seconds count

This paper will illustrate how Hennepin County (HC) utilize monitor and maintain EHR records for the following business lines hospital, outpatient clinics, health, social and human service. Data sharing of EHR has allowed the organization to successfully provide care coordination for the population we serve. As healthcare evolves and service delivery continues to influence healthcare, it is essential that each business lines work together and collaborate to effectively access EHR within the Epic system. EHR systems, data bases, web portals are critical for a healthcare provider remain compliant with federal regulations. I am an HC employee, and my organization is unique, because we own and operate Hennepin County Medical Center (HCMC) and

Many healthcare organizations had to implement an electronic health records system (EHR) to meet certain guidelines set forth by the government. This was a technology that the clinic implemented years ago to meet the needs of the patient, the requirements of the insurance companies, lean processes, and government regulations. This software helped also look for opportunities to treat our patients better and track data for population health. HG Clinic is investing in a new billing system that will allow them to track patient data better and improved billing process. These are just examples of opportunities that the clinic implemented and are continuously evaluating their current software and equipment and looking for opportunities for

Starting in 2009, in the result of the HITECH Act, institutions were rewarded financially for implementing these electronic health record systems into their practices, with more than $35 billion invested. According toWithin a few years, the rates of Medicare or Medicaid EHR adoption increased dramatically for physicians and hospitals. From 2010 to 2012, hospital EHR implementation rates grew to 44%, while physician EHR implementation rose from 20% to 40%, and those rates should keep rising (Cite One). The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act is mainly looked at for reduction in health disparities. One tactic being used to fight these health disparities is researching demographic data and applying this data to electronic health records. Using tactics like this should be able to help increase the demand for EHR programs and decrease health

Throughout my research, I found many new ideas and information I hadn’t know about prior. The information about HIPAA educated me on what patient confidentiality really is. I found what information can be shared and what is prohibited from being shared. My research strengthened my belief in the need for HIPAA to be in place. My interview was very crucial. It opened up my eyes to what it is truly like to work in the healthcare field.

Technology has become an essential part of our everyday life therefore, it makes sense that doctors and hospitals get rid of the old fashioned paper charting and use technology to access patient records. Electronic health records (EHR) provide quick access to information, as doctors no longer have to wait for other providers to fax previous records to them. The accessibility of Electronic Health Records assist medical providers to make quick medical care decisions, by accessing previous care provided to patients including treatment and diagnosis. Quick access to information through EHR enables health care providers to treat patients faster as there is no need for records to be mailed or