Finding (your) Patient Data
Andrew Rittler
CEO @ eVigils | Data Wrangler | Health Tech Innovator | Patient Advocate | Collaboration Architect
We love to access to our financial data and FinTech strives to improve ways to manage cash and investments.
Think also of the free apps like Credit Karma; an app that provides the ability to review and improve your credit scores.
FinTech benefits the consumer and businesses.
HealthTech benefits the patients and providers.
How? Improves the delivery of patient care. Saves money. Expands health research. Fuels AI. And more.
Storing and Accessing (your) Patient Data
Let's focus on patient data stored in the health data utility.
Utilities, as in the water department, electricity, sewage, etc., provide the infrastructure that allows a community to thrive and grow.
About ten years ago the Federal Government distributed $2.4 billion to state agencies to promote the construction of new health data utilities that today are commonly called HIEs (health information exchange).
Given CMS spending in 2023 grew by 7.3% to $1.4 trillion, these HIEs are a foundational element to lower the cost and improve the service provided to Medicare and Medicaid patients.
Quick math: an average of $46.2 million was distributed to each state/territory.
Some states received a lot more than others. Some concentrated the funds while others approached it from a distribution model.
Some grant recipients delivered and some did not.
Active Health Information Exchanges by State
The Largest HIEs in the US
Here are the largest HIEs ranked by the number of patients that have consented to having their patient records stored.
This abbreviated 2023 list represents about 216 million patient records or 80% of the patient records stored across a total of ~40 HIEs.
The first HIE, covering a portion of California, has health data on >35 million patients.
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Look for the state where you provide patient care or receive care.
Go Access (your) Patient Data
Select an HIE link above and research how a provider or a patient gains access to patient data. See if patient electronic health information (EHI) is easily and readily available to you.
If patient data is not available, it may be a situation governed by "data blocking."
The Cures Act Final Rule legislates against "data blocking" by Actors (HIEs, providers, and technology companies) and is designed to give patients and their healthcare providers secure access to patient information.
Missing From the List
The remaining 20% of the total patients with stored data are covered by 26 other HIEs located across the US.
Use a search engine to determine where a health data utility serves your population.
Even after spending $2.4 billion, some areas - both metropolitan and many rural - failed to establish an HIE. This effects the quality and cost (i.e. value) of the care delivered to those populations.
In these areas the patients and providers are required to access multiple "water towers" to receive the data needed to improve care.
Your Role in Patient Care
Are you using a ? ? ? ? ? health app as a patient or caregiver?
As a provider or tech company have you established interoperability that improves patient care?
Whether you are personally invested (at some point we are each a patient), a caregiver, or professionally engaged (healthcare is 17.3% of the GDP) staying informed about emerging patient technologies is crucial, and interesting.
Subscribe to my company’s website to stay updated on the latest in patient-related healthcare technology and engagement.
After all, it’s all about We The Patients, right?
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