The concept of health information exchange (HIE) among organizations in the United States has evolved over the last 25 years, from early efforts to build Community Health Information Networks to recent collaborations in the form of Regional Health Information Organizations (RHIOs). Previous HIE research focused on organizational issues, technological challenges, and impact on healthcare utilization. The research study was set in the MidSouth eHealth Alliance (MSeHA), a RHIO in southwestern Tennessee that has exchanged health data since 2006. This research applied qualitative methods to evaluate the impact of the HIE system on workflow and information flow at MSeHA-participating sites. The study was conducted over a 9-month period at six emergency departments and nine ambulatory clinics. Data collection focused on use of the same HIE technology across widely varying clinical contexts and health information technology (HIT) infrastructures. The researcher observed use of HIE technology and healthcare workflow for 187 hours and conducted semi-structured interviews to confirm observation data. Research results include identification of HIE-related workflow patterns, reasons for HIE technology use, and outcomes of HIE use. The research contributes an understanding of real-world HIE technology usage patterns across organizations, proposes context-aware implementation strategies for HIE systems, and identifies the potential of HIE technology to help transform healthcare.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VANDERBILT/oai:VANDERBILTETD:etd-11252009-161658 |
| Date | 30 November 2009 |
| Creators | Unertl, Kim Marie |
| Contributors | Nancy M. Lorenzi, Kevin B. Johnson, Cynthia S. Gadd, Bruce Barry, Madhu C. Reddy |
| Publisher | VANDERBILT |
| Source Sets | Vanderbilt University Theses |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.library.vanderbilt.edu/available/etd-11252009-161658/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to Vanderbilt University or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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