RioOne Health Network
The Health Information Exchange (HIE) of South Texas
WHat is HIE?
Figure 1
- Improve patient safety by reducing medication and medical errors
- Increase efficiency by eliminating unnecessary paperwork and handling
- Provide caregivers with clinical decision support tools for more effective care and treatment
- Eliminate redundant or unnecessary testing
- Improve public health reporting and monitoring
- Engage healthcare consumers regarding their own personal health information
- Improve healthcare quality and outcomes and
- Reduce health related costs
Benefits of HIE
Health Information Exchange (HIE) is the electronic movement of health related information among healthcare provider organizations. The goal of HIE is to facilitate access to electronic health records between physicians while saving time, making clinics efficient and providing physicians with a better understanding on their patients’ health.
When healthcare organizations are not able to share patient health information efficiently, as seen in figure 1, providers create unnecessary paperwork and redundant testing which increases medical cost for patients. Often, the redundant testing is the result of inefficient communication with healthcare provider organization which are/were involved in providing care to patient.
In figure 2, all healthcare organizations are connected through a Health Information Exchange (HIE) platform. Participating in an HIE help healthcare facilities share patient health information efficiently and decreases paperwork, redundant testing and medical cost for patients.
This patient savings ultimately benefits the healthcare provider through improved patient satisfaction and increased (shared) savings.
Figure 2