Services

Health Information Exchanges: Increasing Connectivity to Improve Care

HIEs Improve Collaboration and Care When decisions about healthcare are needed, patients and caregivers rely on critical data. Missing or incomplete information can lead to unnecessary delays, unneeded tests, incorrect diagnoses, medication errors, and potentially harmful outcomes. Having a complete patient and medical history is vital to delivering timely and effective care.

A Health Information Exchange (HIE) is designed to paint a complete medical picture of a patient while connecting the various points of care in a community. An HIE enables creation of an interoperable health record for patients by connecting data from the multiple points in the entire care continuum. Through HIE interoperability, the same organizations that contribute health information can now access a longitudinal or community view of a patient’s health record. A successful and integrated HIE can result in improved quality and patient safety, reduced costs, and evidence-based care.

New Drivers for HIE Development The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), more specifically the HITECH Act within ARRA, allocated funds to improve the quality of healthcare in the form of grants and reimbursements related to HIEs and electronic medical records (EMRs). Not only did the government provide the funds to help drive down healthcare costs, they also set the criteria around “meaningful use” of these interoperable EMRs and established aggressive timetables that would both incentivize action and penalize inaction.

There are other drivers for HIEs besides the stimulus funding. Cost savings and efficiency without disruption of care are the two most significant benefits being reported by more than 70 percent of operational HIEs. And, HIEs increase collaboration potential and drive referrals and patient admittance for hospitals.

Dell Services is a premier provider of HIE design, implementation, and operational services and we are in the perfect position to help meet your goals:

• EconomicRealities—Most organizations cannot afford to invest large sums now in order to reap the benefits of the ARRA stimulus package in the future. Our HIE services subscription model nearly eliminates the need for up-front capital, hence increasing implementation options and adoption rates.

• FullServiceProvider—Packaging an HIE solution with an EMR offering and boosting efficiency with the right consulting services provides a single point of contact for our customers. Providing the right choices for HIE and EMR packages allows us to offer the right solution to meet just about any challenge.

• EvolutionOptions—With the understanding that the HIE landscape will go through significant changes as the healthcare industry evolves into a Nationwide Health Information Network (NHIN), Dell Services offers clients multiple service and delivery models to evolve from one model to another over time with minimal change and expense.

Measurable Benefits of HIEs:

• Reduced clinical and administrative time on tasks

• Decreases in redundant tests and medication errors

• Multiple costs savings

• Improved quality and efficiency of care

• Improved tracking of disease outbreaks and immunizations

• Better management of chronic conditions

• More complete and accurate disease registries

• Reductions in unnecessary treatments

• Reductions in medical errors

• Plus more…

Dell’s HIE Offerings Deliver the Flexibility and Coverage Needed for Success

Dell uses our broad experience and expertise to deliver maximum value for your organization by building on our HIE success at all geographic levels. FirststatewideHIE.In May 2007, the first statewide HIE in the U.S. went live with Dell Services providing the operational services and our technology alliance partner providing the HIE software. This HIE currently supports more than 2,000 users, representing 98 physician practices across 196 locations and facilitates the exchange of more than 13 million unique encounters and more than 40 million transactions per year. Functionality includes the ability to exchange laboratory and pathology data, reports, face sheets, and discharge summaries, as well as linking to public health reporting organizations for bio-surveillance.

HIEfordisasterpreparedness. Dell Services and its alliance partner have begun implementation of an HIE, that went live in the summer of 2009 in a Gulf Coast state. Dell Services is able to offer the residents and healthcare organizations along the coast a solution that will help prevent the issues that arose when Hurricane Katrina devastated six coastal counties in this state, washing away many paper medical records. Dell Services hosts the solution in its Plano Technology Center (PTC).

HIE/EMRhostingservices. Dell Services can provide both the technology platform and hosting services for HIEs, including hosting EMR applications from leading technology providers. We helped plan and deploy:

• A Texas-based HIE that allows for the seamless exchange of patient medical-related information between different healthcare systems, including certified EMRs, hospital systems, labs, and pharmacies.

• A New York state-based HIE dedicated to improving the quality, safety, and efficiency of healthcare for the benefit of the people in its region of the state.

• A not-for-profit Regional Health Information Organization (RHIO) devoted to facilitating patient-centric care and promoting improved healthcare quality, affordability, and outcomes for New Yorkers.

Internationalexperience. Dell Services international teams are building on our HIE experience of developing regional and statewide exchanges by developing and operating countrywide exchanges. We have been working in the U.K. since 2003 on an electronic patient record (EPR) initiative to connect 10,000 doctors to 70 hospitals. In 2008, the country of Jordan awarded our company the contract to connect its hospitals and clinics through the use of the VistA system from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

Leadership. In addition to delivering services for HIEs, Dell Services has also been influencing the organizations that define standards for them. As an example, in the U.S., networks need to become certified to qualify for federal funds. We worked with the Certification Commission for Health Information Technology (CCHIT) to help develop criteria for a “Certified Network.”

Dell HIE Services

HIE Implementation and Operation Services

Serv

ices

Public HIEs

State/Regional Level HealthInformation Exchange

Service Provider

Private HealthInformation Exchange

Service Provider

Health InformationExchange Value-Added Services

Private HIEs

• HIE Implementation, Hosting and Operations• HIE Member Services

• HIE Governance, Planning, and Sustainment• HIE Implementation, Hosting, and Operations• HIE Member Services

• Intermediary Services – interfacing to multiple HIEs• Aggregator Services – aggregating all provider data into a single view

Dell can collaborate with your organization to explore HIE strategies HIEs represent a new direction for healthcare in America. Creating a successful HIE is challenging but by no means impossible. HIEs can deliver numerous benefits for your organization and the quality and efficiency of care you deliver. In addition, ARRA incentivizes action and penalizes inaction, and with the new regulations and reporting requirements in the health reform legislation (the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act), the adoption of HIEs is expected to increase.

There are many elements to consider when creating an HIE and deciding which course is best for you and your organization. At Dell, we have the needed healthcare experience and technical process expertise to take the lead in helping customers plan and implement health information exchanges. For more than 20 years, we have delivered substantial, sustainable results, enabling healthcare providers to improve patient care, realize higher revenues, and maximize return on technology investments.

For more information about how the Dell people, process, and technology approach can make a difference for creating your Health Information Exchange, please contact your Dell representative or visit dell.com/services.

ServicesApplications Business Process Consulting Infrastructure Support

Availability varies by country. © 2010 Dell Inc. All rights reserved.