Health information exchange (HIE) is an important tool for improving efficiency and quality and is required for providers to meet Meaningful Use certification from the United States Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. However widespread adoption and use of HIE has been difficult to achieve, especially in settings such as smaller-sized physician practices and federally qualified health centers (FQHCs). There are currently three key forms of health information exchange: • Directed Exchange – ability to send and receive secure information electronically between care providers to support coordinated care • Query-based Exchange – ability for providers to find and/or request information on a patient from other providers, often used for unplanned …show more content…
Nearly half of the respondents that reported the expense associated with purchasing an EHR indicated spending between $100,000 and $500,000 for their EHR, while 24 percent paid between $50,000 and $100,000, another 18 percent paid over $500,000, and approximately 10 percent paid less than $50,000. In addition to the initial cost, many respondents reported annual maintenance and upgrade expenses. Forty-two percent of the respondents that estimated such expenses reported that they incur or expect to incur annual maintenance and upgrade expenses in excess of $50,000. Twenty-three percent indicated that such costs are or will be between $50,000 and $100,000, approximately 14 percent reported annual costs between $100,000 and $500,000, and five percent reported annual costs of over …show more content…
This may come directly from the HIE strategic plan, project plan, proposal, or other documents outlining the vision, mission, goals, and objectives of the project. A strong project description clearly identifies the stage where the HIE project will be during the evaluation. The stages of an HIE project are often broadly characterized as planning, testing, or fully operational. An evaluation can be conducted during any or all of these stages. If feasible, conduct your evaluation over several phases of the project to identify issues and improvements, as well as to inform decisions about the