Interest in Health Information Exchange in Ambulatory Care: A Statewide Survey

OBJECTIVE Assess the interest in and preferences of ambulatory practitioners in HIE. BACKGROUND Health information exchange (HIE) may improve the quality and efficiency of care. Identifying the value proposition for smaller ambulatory practices may help those practices engage in HIE. METHODS Survey of primary care and specialist practitioners in the State of Colorado. RESULTS Clinical data were commonly (always [2%], often [29%] or sometimes [49%]) missing during clinic visits. Of 12 data types proposed as available through HIE, ten were considered "extremely useful" by most practitioners. "Clinical notes/consultation reports," "diagnosis or problem lists," and "hospital discharge summaries" were considered the three most useful data types. Interest in EKG reports, diagnosis/problem lists, childhood immunizations, and discharge summaries differed among ambulatory practitioner groups (primary care, obstetrics-gynecology, and internal medicine subspecialties). CONCLUSION Practitioners express strong interest in most of the data types, but opinions differed by specialties on what types were most important. All providers felt that a system that provided all data types would be useful. These results support the potential benefit of HIE in ambulatory practices.