Health Information Exchange - Answer both questions Essay

Health Information Exchange - Answer both questions - Essay Example involved, who is leading the initiative, whether it is a consolidated of federal model, whether personal health records play a role, and a description of how records are transferred between providers. NY State "Has made adoption of HIT and HIE a top priority through the Healthcare Efficiency and Affordable Law for New Yorkers (HEAL NY) Capital Grant Program" (Kern and Kaushul, 2007, p.S18). This program is mandated to implore funding to finance implementation of EHRs, electronic prescribing, and formulation and execution of pervasive clinical data exchanges within NY State (Kern and Kaushul, 2007). In facilitating implementation of HIE, Kern and Kaushul (2007) asserts that it is a prerequisite for the initiative to engage all stakeholders in the healthcare sector. In this regard, other parties involved other than the NY State government and grantees include hospitals, physicians, and payers (Kern and Kaushul, 2007). As further outlined by Kern and Kaushul, (2007), there are also efforts to ensure that grantees contribute funds equivalent to the funds donated by the State government to support HIE, and other efforts require subsequent evaluations of the initiative in an effort to assess the impact of the initiative on the quality, cost, and safety of health care. Assessing the impact of HIE on quality, cost, and safety of care validates the fact that personal health records play a fundamental role in the initiative. In essence, health records serves as a source of evaluation data. In facilitating the implementation of HIE, HITEC (Health Information Technology Evaluation Collaborative) was also established as an effort to bring together researchers and experts in all science related fields (Kern and Kaushul, 2007). Implementation of the HIE in NY State is a consolidated effort as it involves the NY State government, grantees and stakeholders. When a patient presents himself to a physician in need of a specialized care or assessment, the physician is obligated to