The goal of The Rio Grande Valley Health Information Exchange (HIE) is to facilitate access to, and retrieval of, clinical information to provide safer, more timely, efficient, and effective patient-centered care. By having access to all patient data, health care providers can reduce time and expense associated with duplicate tests and effort spent locating missing patient information such as referrals, consults, radiology and lab results and other orders.
When clinical records are available at the point of care, patients receive more accurate and timely service. Benefits include:
- Improved patient safety.
- Reduce chance of medical error.
- Better workflow efficiency and lower administrative costs.
- Enhanced communication between hospitals, laboratories, pharmacies and physicians.
- Easier access and retrieval of clinical data.
- Records come to you directly from the original source where they are stored.
- Providers can make the right decision at the right time.
- Improved audit trails and chain of custody.
- Local control.
It provides the capability to electronically access clinical information across disparate health care information systems while maintaining the meaning of the information being exchanged. HIE is part of an evolving strategy on the national, state, regional, and local levels. These strategies may include telemedicine, social networking, patient-centered medical homes, and accountable-care organizations.
