Facebook for Physicians

Earlier this month, the Wall Street Journal reported that Wellpoint and Blue Shield of California are partnering to create a Health Information Exchange, or HIE.An HIE is a federally-funded network designed to “allow patients’ records to be shared digitally among the providers caring for them.”HIE’s already exist in several parts of the country.  The Journal article cites an HIE in Indiana in which more than 100 hospitals and 25,000 physicians participate.   There is an HIE in my state, Connecticut.According to the article, the California HIE will - for example - ensure that physicians will have immediate access to patient information in emergencies [which suggests the database is not strictly limited to a patient’s own physicians after all] or ensure that a specialist could review past test results and avoid ordering duplicates. In general, the theory behind an HIE predicts that when physicians have more complete and readily available patient information, duplication and patient risks decline, and patient outcomes improve.  This is a rational prediction based on experience; HIE’s simply bring better technology to bear.The theory also appears to predict that more effective care will be less costly by much more than enough to offset “user fees” that the HIE charges to its participating providers.   HIE’s will test this theory.And in theory I suppose, the HIE databases will be secure – which is not quite to say unhackable. ...
Source: InsureBlog - Category: Medical Lawyers and Insurers Source Type: blogs