Description
The Veterans Health Information Exchange (VHIE) provides a secure technological platform to exchange health information between VA and community providers. Although available systemwide, VHIE use by VA providers remains below critical mass. Increasing adoption and utilization is key to successful implementation of the MISSION Act. To better understand the challenge, high VHIE utilizers (‘superusers’) were surveyed regarding VHIE access and use patterns, data quality, and the user experience. Survey results (n=82) indicate superusers are positive about VHIE utilization despite technical issues and have identified many use cases. Care coordination and delivering high quality care to Veterans motivates them, and VHIE use is facilitated by easy access in the work setting. Superusers perceive benefits of incorporating VHIE use into their workflow and believe data quality is good, but eHealth Exchange participation by more community providers is necessary. Existing self-directed training is effective in providing knowledge and skills to successfully use the VHIE.
Learning Objective: 1. Understand the challenges of health information exchange (HIE) implementation by the Department of Veterans Affairs and how barriers/facilitators affect adoption and utilization of the Veterans Health Information Exchange (VHIE) by VA providers and staff.
2. Describe social marketing theory, consumer-focused health communications and their application to changing provider behavior through targeted, stratgic communications.
3. Apply knowledge about VHIE 'superusers' to formulate a communications-based solution to low HIE adoption in VA and community health care organizations.
Authors:
Kristen Wing (Presenter)
Department of Veterans Affairs
Omar Bouhaddou, InnoVet HEALTH
Nelson Hsing, Department of Veterans Affairs
Carolyn Turvey, Department of Veterans Affairs
Dawn Klein, Department of Veterans Affairs
Joseph Nelson, Department of Veterans Affairs
Margaret Donahue, Department of Veterans Affairs
Presentation Materials: