What is a health information exchange (HIE)?

A health information exchange (HIE) is fundamentally defined as the electronic sharing of health-related information among organizations. This method facilitates the transmission of patient data between different healthcare entities, such as hospitals, clinics, laboratories, and other healthcare providers. The primary goal of HIE is to enhance the coordination of care, improve healthcare outcomes, and allow for more efficient patient management by ensuring that critical health information is readily available to authorized providers when they need it. This electronic sharing contrasts with manual practices, highlights the importance of inter-organizational collaboration, and showcases the growing reliance on technology in healthcare delivery systems.

The other choices reflect concepts that do not accurately capture the essence of an HIE. For instance, while the manual transfer of patient records is an aspect of healthcare data management, it lacks the efficiency and immediacy of electronic exchanges. A database for tracking public health status describes data collection for monitoring community health trends rather than the exchange of individual patient information, which is central to HIE. Lastly, telemedicine consultations pertain to remote clinical services using technology, but they do not specifically involve the exchange of health information between various healthcare entities, which is the core function of HIE.