Hospital's adoption of multiple methods of obtaining outside information and use of that information

Abstract

Objective: Hospitals have multiple methods available to engage in health information exchange (HIE); however, it is not well understood whether these methods are complements or substitutes. We sought to characterize patterns of adoption of HIE methods and examine the association between these methods and increased availability and use of patient information. Materials and Methods: Cross-sectional analysis of 3208 nonfederal acute care hospitals in the 2019 American Hospital Association Information Technology Supplement. Results: The median hospital obtained outside information through 4 methods. Hospitals that obtained data through a regional HIE organization were 2.2 times more likely to also obtain data via Direct using a health information service provider (HISP) than hospitals that did not (P