Table 1
Current Access to External Health Information, Perceived Costs and Benefits, and Current State of Awareness of Health Information Exchange
| Response (N = 216 respondents) | Rate | 95% Confidence Interval |
| >1/2 of emergency department patients would benefit if access to outside clinical information were immediate | 39% | 32.4%–45.6% |
| >1/4 of emergency department patients would benefit if access to outside clinical information were immediate | 63% | 56.8%–69.9% |
| It is currently difficult or very difficult to obtain relevant outside clinical information at the point of care in the emergency department | 86% | 80.7%–90.2% |
| Current attempts to obtain clinical information from other area providers fail more than 1/2 of the time | 66% | 63.1%–69.6% |
| Estimated number of minutes it currently takes to get clinical information from outside providers | 66 min | 48.2–83.7 min |
| Attempt to get outside clinical information ≤10% of the time | 56% | 49%–62.7% |
| HIE would benefit the delivery of clinical care | 97% | 94.2%–99.1% |
| HIE would benefit the emergency department | 92% | 88.7%–95.9% |
| HIE would benefit the hospital | 91% | 87.5%–95.2% |
| HIE would benefit the health care system overall | 98% | 95.5%–99.7% |
| HIE would increase or greatly increase the efficiency of clinical care | 88% | 83.6%–92.4% |
| HIE would decrease or greatly decrease the number of tests ordered | 78% | 72.1%–83.4% |
| HIE would decrease or greatly decrease the number of medical errors | 64% | 57.4%–70.5% |
| HIE would increase or greatly increase the time to disposition decision on individual patients | 54% | 47.1%–60.6% |
| HIE would decrease or greatly decrease health care costs | 64% | 57.1%–70.2% |
| The benefits of HIE outweigh or greatly outweigh the risks | 85% | 80.3%–89.9% |
| Never heard of HIE prior to this survey | 76% | 70.4%–82.0% |
| HIE will eventually exist locally | 71% | 64.7%–77.1% |
| HIE will eventually exist regionally | 64% | 57.7%–70.8% |
| HIE will eventually exist nationally | 50% | 42.9%–56.6% |
| HIE will eventually exist internationally | 18% | 12.8%–23.3% |
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HIE = health information exchange.
