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The Role of Safety-Net Providers in Sharing Health Information Electronically
Contact: Cheryl Pedersen, (609) 275-2258
WASHINGTON, D.C. (June 18, 2009)—Health information technology has great potential for improving health care through Health Information Exchange (HIE), the exchange of health-related information electronically across providers, with strong privacy, confidentiality, and security protections. If safety-net providers are to keep pace with other providers, organizations responsible for funding and facilitating expansion of HIE need a solid understanding of safety-net providers’ needs. A new brief from Mathematica Policy Research, Inc., reviews lessons learned from a 13-member panel convened to discuss barriers and catalysts safety-net providers face in integrating HIE.
Because safety-net providers serve low-income, uninsured people, who are more likely than others to have complex health needs, HIE has potential to improve care and reduce inefficiencies where the need is greatest. In addition, uninsured patients are less likely than patients with health coverage to have a usual source of care. Engaging safety-net providers in HIE and considering their special circumstances and needs may help disparities from growing as other providers advance.
Safety-net providers may have difficulty implementing HIE because of lack of funding, expertise, or knowledge of how to sustain their effort. At the community-level, challenges include the need to build trust so that data security and confidentiality concerns are addressed, define initiatives so that all stakeholders’ interests are represented, and deal with technical issues that accompany HIE.
Panel members suggested the following ways in which federal and state governments, foundations, and other organizations could support effective implementation of HIE:
- Help safety-net providers learn from high-performing counterparts to shorten development times.
- Educate primary care associations about HIE so they can better support primary care safety-net providers.
- Create mobile education teams to inform staff in rural areas about implementing health IT.
- Provide basic IT resources and other technical assistance for providers who lack this support, including free or low-cost access to high-quality “how-to” information, analysts to work intensively with a community, assistance in effective interorganizational communications, and clear legal advice.
- Identify and support local physician champions to increase interest both within and outside the safety net.
- Articulate the benefits of HIE to physicians and patients in ways that take their perspectives into account.
“HIE has potential for improving the quality and efficiency of health care services, but we need to take special care to ensure that our most vulnerable citizens are not left out,” said Suzanne Felt-Lisk, lead author of the brief and a senior health researcher at Mathematica. “Our nation’s leaders could play a valuable role in supporting safety-net providers as they embark on this important endeavor.”
“Health Information Exchange: The Role of Safety-Net Providers” by Felt-Lisk, Melanie Au, and Patricia Higgins is available at www.mathematica-mpr.com/publications/pdfs/Health/healthinfoexchangeIB.pdf. The project was funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).
Mathematica, a nonpartisan research firm, conducts high-quality, objective policy research and surveys to improve public well-being. Its clients include federal and state governments, foundations, and private-sector and international organizations. The employee-owned company, with offices in Princeton, N.J., Ann Arbor, Mich., Cambridge, Mass., Chicago, Ill., Oakland, Calif., and Washington, D.C., has conducted some of the most important studies of health care, education, family support, employment, nutrition, and early childhood policies and programs.