The Bay Area HIE. A case study in connecting stakeholders.

The core philosophy of health information exchanges is to bring together industry stakeholders to facilitate the movement of actionable healthcare information within or across organizations. One workable model for automating the HIE is the virtual health exchange. It allows an organization to satisfy its electronic data exchange needs, while positioning it for HIO/RHIO and Nationwide Health Information Network inclusion. Four healthcare organizations in the San Francisco bay area offer a unique case study of this emerging model and a distinctive technology strategy using HIPAA-compliant SaaS online connectivity. The article will explore the foundational elements such as platform connectivity solutions and services that meet the federal HIT Policy Committee's approved recommendation of "meaningful use" 2011 criteria for exchange health information. Several ambulatory solutions are integrated into the data and workflow. The Bay Area HIE consists of John Muir Health, a private health system; Hill Physicians Medical Group, an independent physicians' organization; Alta Bates Medical Group, a 600-physician IPA; San Ramon Regional Medical Center, a 123-bed, acute-care hospital; and University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), a large academic health system. Collectively, 2,800-plus physicians, 900,000 patients, numerous reference labs and interoperability among several health IT vendors are involved. Providers and hospitals are exchanging data and 136,000 patients have connected online to their records. Connected physicians have access to online services, e.g., results management, messaging, colleague-to-colleague messaging, referrals, and eprescribing. Patients are offered secure messaging, including preventive care reminders, PHRs, lab results, script renewals, bill payment, appointment requests, referrals and education services. Revealed are resulting care coordination and practice operational improvements.