In This Section
A patient’s health information should follow the patient
"After you have used it [the exchange] and incorporated it into your practice you cannot imagine going back. It has become part of our workflow for every patient."
Nowhere is this so critical, as in an emergency department. The Wisconsin Health Information Exchange is designed for any patient encounter, but our initial focus began with emergency departments and safety-net providers. This system, called ED Linking, provides physicians immediate access to past medical history for a patient. Presented with an acutely ill patient, physicians can eliminate redundant or unneeded diagnostic tests, reduce time trying to access a patient’s medical history and focus in providing effective care.
Today, there are real-time, secure data feeds from 24 hospitals and numerous clinics across 5 competitive health care systems. Together with an additional 26 hospitals sharing clinical data for public health reporting, WHIE processes over 100,000 transactions each day between providers. Recent research has shown that the use of the Wisconsin Health Information Exchange by area health providers has had an impact on clinical care, reducing costs and increasing efficiency. Importantly, patients receive treatment faster – time spent gathering information and getting to a diagnostic decision was reduced approximately over 40% of the time. To learn more read The Business Case for Payer Support.
How information exchange works for everyone
Physicians get the information they need to make more informed care decisions. Comprehensive medical encounter data including – location, date and time, chief complaint, allergies, primary care provider, prescriptions, diagnosis – are all presented through a secure system that ensures confidentially of all individual patient information.
Registration triggers query to WHIE, automatic response to clinical staff at that site provides immediate access, with patient consent when required, to past encounter and medical history.