Home > The Vision for Health Information Data Exchange

While there are proposed solutions on many fronts, one vision stands out as a core foundation to improve healthcare in America.

A Vision for Community, Regional and National Data Exchange

A national network of community and regional health information exchanges that share secure, patient-centric electronic data across provider organizations following national standards that enable authorized providers to access all relevant patient records regardless of where the patient has been and where the provider is located.

While moving to such a vision is a daunting task for a community, region or nation to accomplish, thoughtful people are realizing that such an electronic network is an essential building block to encourage patient-centric care and implement solutions that improve the quality, safety, and efficiency of care. A few of the benefits of this vision are:

• Reduction in inefficient paper processing
• Reduction in duplicate testing
• Improved safety of care through such applications as electronic prescribing and physician order entry
• Ready physician access to critical information when most needed as in an emergency department
• Mechanism for establishing performance measures and possible pay for performance programs
• Development of public health disease surveillance
• Academic research into evidence based medicine