Perceptions of health information exchange in home healthcare

The aim of this study was to understand home healthcare nurses' current experiences in obtaining outside clinical information at the point of care and the type of clinical information they most desire in their patients' health information exchange profile. A Web-based survey was deployed to home health workers in New York to learn about their experiences retrieving outside clinical data prior to having access to health information exchange, preferred data elements and sources in their patients' health information exchange profiles, and how availability of outside clinical data may affect emergency department referrals. Of the 2383 participants, 566 responded for a 23.8% overall response rate, and 469 of these respondents were RNs. Most RNs, 96.7%, agreed that easier and quicker access to outside information would benefit delivery of care, and 72.6% said the number of emergency department referrals would decrease. When asked about pre-health information exchange access to patient data, 96.3% said it was problematic. Inpatient discharge summaries were chosen most often by the RNs as a top five desired data element 81.5% of the time. Obtaining outside clinical information has been a challenge without health information exchange, but improved access to this information may lead to improved care. Further study is required to assess experiences with the use of health information exchange.