Health information exchange (HIE) is defined as the mobilization of healthcare information electronically across organizations within a region or community.
HIE provides the capability to electronically move clinical information between disparate health care information systems while maintaining the meaning of the information being exchanged. The goal of HIE is to facilitate access to and retrieval of clinical data to provide safer, more timely, efficient, effective, equitable, patient-centered care.
Formal organizations are now emerging to provide both form and function for health information exchange efforts. These organizations (often called Regional Health Information Organizations, or RHIOs) are ordinarily geographically-defined entities which develop and manage a set of contractual conventions and terms, arrange for the means of electronic exchange of information, and develop and maintain HIE standards.
Regional Health Information Organizations (RHIOs) are key to the US National Health Information Network (NHIN). The Office for the National Coordinator has contracted with the National Alliance for Health Information Technology to lead workgroups of national experts in defining key terms including RHIO and to solicit public comments. The effort began in late 2007 and has submitted their final definition for public comment in May 2008. The status of this definition process can be tracked at the website: http://definitions.nahit.org/. Based on this process national expertise has offered the following definition of a RHIO - "A health information organization [HIO] that brings together health care stakeholders within a defined geographic area and governs health information exchange [HIE] among them for the purpose of improving health and care in that community." Fundamental to this definition is the meanings of Health Information Exchange and Health Information Organization. A Health Information Organization (HIO) is "An organization that oversees and governs the exchange of health-related information among organizations according to nationally recognized standards." Health information exchange (HIE) is "The electronic movement of health-related information among organizations according to nationally recognized standards". Much of the information that follows was developed prior to these definitions and provides insight into the evolution of the RHIO concept.
RHIOs are multistakeholder organizations expected to be responsible for motivating and causing integration and information exchange in the nation’s revamped healthcare system. Generally these stakeholders are developing a RHIO to affect the safety, quality, and efficiency of healthcare as well as access to healthcare as the result of health information technology. Regions in the US continue to use various definitions of "multistakeholder organizations." For instance, in Wichita, Kansas the Clinics Patient Index is a software architecture as well as support environment that facilitates integration among outpatient clinics and hospital emergency departments. Other RHIOs are forming with multiple hospitals, while still others might include medical societies, payers and major employers.
RHIOs are a specialization of health information exchanges (HIE). Health information exchange (HIE) is defined as the mobilization of healthcare information electronically across organizations within a region or community. HIE provides the capability to electronically move clinical information between disparate healthcare information systems while maintaining the meaning of the information being exchanged. The goal of HIE is to facilitate access to and retrieval of clinical data to provide safer, more timely, efficient, effective, equitable, patient-centered care. HIEs also provide the infrastructure for secondary use of clinical data for purposes such as public health, clinical, biomedical, and consumer health informatics research as well as institution and provider quality assessment and improvement.