Organization and Governance: Introduction

Increasingly, healthcare leaders are focused on breaking down barriers to higher quality, safer, more efficient healthcare through the introduction of several new strategies including those related to health IT and health information exchange (HIE), given its critical and demonstrated role in improving health and healthcare.

Health information exchange (HIE) initiatives across the country are focused on developing a health information infrastructure to deliver clinical results and information to physicians and other health care providers at the point of care. The Getting Organized module lays out common principles and early activities for formulating a health information exchange (HIE) initiative. 

Over 200 state, regional, and community-based organizations interested in health information exchange have cropped up in the last few years.  Nearly every stakeholder group is getting into health information exchange…hospitals, visiting nurse associations, pharmacies, laboratories, physicians, employers, health plans, Quality Improvement Organizations (QIOs), and public health agencies.  Various methods and approaches for implementing a health information exchange are evolving, but clearly, there is no one solution that fits all.  However, there are some straightforward activities you can do to get organized.