Health Information Exchange (HIE) in San Diego, California

A non-profit community health technology service that provides providers, patient and health insurance organizations access to health information with a goal to provide quality and costs of healthcare.

San Diego: Health Information Exchange (HIE)

According to San Diego Health Connect (2021) they began with a grant from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) to improve healthcare in the San Diego community, led by the University of California with a goal to build and strengthen local health information technology infrastructures and implement new approaches for making measurable improvements in the cost and quality of health care.

HIE Stakeholders

HIE has a variety of stakeholders but overall, stakeholders involve the whole community. Patients are allotted the resources to maintain their complete

health record in one location. They do not need to keep paper records or remember what one doctor said when having an appointment with another doctor. This is especially helpful for tracking medications, discharge instructions and history of procedures. For providers, they have immediate access to details of care their patients received from other providers, including tests and their results so they can provide an informed assessment and health plan for their patients. The app is also used to track outbreaks to assist the local health department to maintain public health and safety. According to San Diego Health Connect (2021) they deliver an infrastructure for health information exchange that spans the entire community—across organizational boundaries and technology vendors.

Using Health Information Technology to build a better, healthier community in San Diego, California.

Accomplishments of HIE

The HIE has helped providers make informed care decisions, improved coordination of care for the patient, and has reduced excessive care and treatment that patients did not really need and in the long cost the healthcare industry elevated cost. The San Diego Health Connect (2021) states they have been able to secure participation from major health systems in San Diego and are continuing to grow today.

Challenges of HIE

As with any information technology, there will be challenges that go along with the accomplishments. For HIE, they talk about working on being able to match patient records and are working on making this happen. Another challenge is that this program is within in San Diego community and connecting to other HIE programs are still being worked out.

References

San Diego Health Connect. (2021). Better Information. Better Care. https://www.sdhealthconnect.org/