Health information exchange system usage patterns in three communities: practice sites, users, patients, and data

Area of Science:

• Health Informatics
• Health Services Research

Background:

• Query-based health information exchange (HIE) systems aggregate patient data across institutions.
• Limited studies have explored HIE system usage in varied settings.

Purpose of the Study:

• To quantify the breadth and depth of query-based HIE system usage across diverse communities, care settings, and patient populations.

Main Methods:

• Cross-sectional study in three New York communities using system access logs (Jan 2009–May 2011).
• Measured usage patterns concerning practice sites, users, patients, and data accessed.

Main Results:

• High practice site registration in Community C (82%), moderate in A (60%) and B (59%).
• User roles varied: non-clinical staff in outpatient settings (A & B), inpatient physicians (C).
• Patient data access varied significantly: 60% in Community B, 5% in A, 1% in C.

Conclusions:

• This study demonstrates large-scale query-based HIE usage across multiple communities.
• Default patient summary data access appears to be a key feature.
• Usage patterns are influenced by user role, practice site type, and patient consent workflows.