Physicians' opinions of a health information exchange

BACKGROUND Arizona Medicaid developed a Health Information Exchange (HIE) system called the Arizona Medical Information Exchange (AMIE). OBJECTIVE To evaluate physicians' perceptions regarding AMIE's impact on health outcomes and healthcare costs. MEASUREMENTS A focus-group guide was developed and included five domains: perceived impact of AMIE on (1) quality of care; (2) workflow and efficiency; (3) healthcare costs; (4) system usability; and (5) AMIE data content. Qualitative data were analyzed using analytical coding. RESULTS A total of 29 clinicians participated in the study. The attendance rate was 66% (N=19) for the first and last month of focus-group meetings and 52% (N=15) for the focus group meetings conducted during the second month. The benefits most frequently mentioned during the focus groups included: (1) identification of "doctor shopping"; (2) averting duplicative testing; and (3) increased efficiency of clinical information gathering. The most frequent disadvantage mentioned was the limited availability of data in the AMIE system. CONCLUSION Respondents reported that AMIE had the potential to improve care, but they felt that AMIE impact was limited due to the data available.

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