Information Exchange FAQ Added to ONC’s
FAQs on State HIE Cooperative Agreement Programs
[updated 11/12/09]
(e-Healthcare Marketing Note: This new FAQ section, Information Exchange, focuses on the necessity of eliminating barriers to information exchange. The following is produced in full as of 11/14/09. ONC recommends checking FAQs frequently.)
E3. How does information exchange support the goals of the HITECH Act?
The HITECH Act seeks to improve patient care and make it patient-centric through the creation of a secure, interoperable nationwide health information network. A key premise is that information should follow the patient, and artificial obstacles — technical, bureaucratic, or business related — should not be a barrier to the seamless exchange of information. Therefore, secure information exchange needs to occur across institutional and business boundaries so that the appropriate information is available to improve coordination, efficiency, and quality of care.
E2. How does the HITECH Act address barriers to information exchange?
Commercial barriers. The HITECH Act calls for the “development of a nationwide health information technology infrastructure that allows for the electronic use and exchange of information and that…promotes a more effective marketplace, greater competition…[and] increased consumer choice” among other goals. (PHSA, Section 3001(b)) It does not support arrangements that restrict for business or proprietary purposes the secure, private exchange of information required for patient care. Consumers, patients and their caretakers should not feel locked into a single health system or exchange arrangement because it does not to permit or encourage the sharing of information.
Economic barriers. The HITECH Act provides incentives for providers and hospitals for the meaningful use of electronic health records (EHRs). Although the official definition of “Meaningful Use” is still in development, the HITECH Act specifically highlights “information exchange” as one requirement for the incentives.
Technical barriers. The HITECH Act focuses on “interoperability,” meaning that policies, programs, and incentives must aim for EHR software and systems that can share information with other EHR software and systems. To support this, HHS will invest in the infrastructure to “support the nationwide electronic exchange and use of health information …including connecting health information exchanges…” HHS works with all partners in the health care and health IT industries to develop the technologies and policies to deliver information securely, privately, and accurately to whomever needs to see it on behalf of the patient’s health.
E1. What role do the State Health Information Exchange Cooperative Agreements Program and the Health Information Technology Extension Program play in supporting this goal?
The state health information exchange program authorized in HITECH Section 3013, totaling $564 million, will support states and state-designated entities to advance mechanisms for information sharing across the health care system. It targets information exchange across boundaries, not only within each state but explicitly as part of a nationwide framework. These grantees’ activities must support interoperability that lets patient data follow the patient across political and geographic boundaries. The extension program authorized in HITECH 3012, totaling $693 million, will provide technical assistance, guidance and information on best practices to support and accelerate health care providers’ efforts to become meaningful users of EHRs. The national Health Information Technology Research Center and the Regional Extensions Centers will help providers establish interoperable EHRs and implement the health information exchange requirements for the incentives.
Main HIE Cooperative Agreement FAQ page
Background FAQs Updated 10/5/09
Application FAQs Updated 10/20/09
Funding FAQs Updated 10/9/09
Award Administration FAQs Updated 10/5/09
Information Exchange FAQs Added 11/12/09
