Concentric Circles of Health Information Exchange (HIE)

HITECH Answers, Apri 24, 2012

BEI Commentary: Health Information Exchange will be very important in the near future.   Here is a good description of how to think about HIE.

While the health information exchange (noun) market continues to develop, providers’ needs for health information exchange (the verb) becomes ever more pervasive and urgent. A dialogue has emerged recently that has separated the HIE market into public and private. However, the way HIE needs to be viewed is through the eyes of the provider and patient – both of whom are at the core of a series of concentric circles, and whom generate data during a visit or an episode of care.

These circles represent various geographic layers indicative of society’s organizational frameworks. The data must flow for multiple purposes at various levels, but the point is it starts from the center of the circle (patients and providers in geographic proximity) and moves to the local, state and national levels. Read More