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J Am Med Inform Assoc 18:60-65 doi:10.1136/jamia.2010.006502
  • Research and applications

Physicians' opinions of a health information exchange

  1. Daniel C Malone1
  1. 1Department of Pharmacy Practice and Science, The Center for Health Outcomes and PharmacoEconomic Research, College of Pharmacy, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA
  2. 2Clinical Informatics and Provider Adoption, Arizona Healthcare Cost Containment System (AHCCCS), Phoenix, Arizona, USA
  3. 3Arizona State University, Department of Biomedical Informatics, Arizona, USA
  4. 4University of Arizona Health Sciences Center, College of Pharmacy, Arizona, USA
  1. Correspondence to Ana Lucia Hincapie, Pharmacy-Pulido Center, 1295 N Martin Avenue, PO Box 210202, Tucson, AZ 85721-0202, USA; hincapie{at}pharmacy.arizona.edu
  • Received 8 June 2010
  • Accepted 19 October 2010
  • Published Online First 24 November 2010

Abstract

Background Arizona Medicaid developed a Health Information Exchange (HIE) system called the Arizona Medical Information Exchange (AMIE).

Objective To evaluate physicians' perceptions regarding AMIE's impact on health outcomes and healthcare costs.

Measurements A focus-group guide was developed and included five domains: perceived impact of AMIE on (1) quality of care; (2) workflow and efficiency; (3) healthcare costs; (4) system usability; and (5) AMIE data content. Qualitative data were analyzed using analytical coding.

Results A total of 29 clinicians participated in the study. The attendance rate was 66% (N=19) for the first and last month of focus-group meetings and 52% (N=15) for the focus group meetings conducted during the second month. The benefits most frequently mentioned during the focus groups included: (1) identification of “doctor shopping”; (2) averting duplicative testing; and (3) increased efficiency of clinical information gathering. The most frequent disadvantage mentioned was the limited availability of data in the AMIE system.

Conclusion Respondents reported that AMIE had the potential to improve care, but they felt that AMIE impact was limited due to the data available.

Footnotes

  • This study was presented at the 2009 AMIA Spring Congress held in Orlando, Florida.

  • Funding This study was funded by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) Grant Number 0705AZTRA1 provided to Arizona for the Medicaid Health Information Exchange and Utility Project.

  • Competing interests None.

  • Ethics approval Ethics approval was provided by the Human Subjects Protection Program Office for the Responsible Conduct of Research, University of Arizona.

  • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

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