Worrall, Christina
Zylla, Emily

New Report for Connecticut Explores “What’s Happening with Health Information Exchange in the State”

Under contract with the Connecticut Health Foundation, SHADAC Senior Researchers Christina Worrall, MPP, and Emily Zylla, MPH, have authored a new policy brief exploring the launch of a new statewide health information exchange in Connecticut—called the Health Information Alliance—and the next steps and key questions to ask to ensure success.

About the Report
A long-time goal for Connecticut (and many other states) has been the development of a secure way to effectively share up-to-date patient information electronically between providers. In forming a new, statewide non-profit health information exchange (HIE), Connecticut plans to connect providers and disparate health information exchange networks in order to reduce fragmentation. The new HIE will allow authorized users to see where and when individual patients have received care, which could help improve care coordination and quality and reduce duplicative tests. In addition, the new health information exchange will be able to use the data from multiple sources to identify and analyze health outcomes and population health trends, which could both help meet the requirements of new care delivery and payment approaches as well as pinpoint and address health disparities.

In addition to providing context for the state’s new HIE, the brief also offers an overview of the current landscape in Connecticut related to information exchange and describes opportunities and potential obstacles going forward, such as the need for robust provider participation, provision of incentives to ensure participation, and the development of a long-term funding and patient engagement strategy. To inform this work, SHADAC researchers conducted a review of select national and state literature and organized interviews with key stakeholders both in Connecticut and in other states that are further along with statewide HIE efforts with the goal of helping policymakers and those interested in patient care and population health understand where the state is today, what’s coming, and what to consider for success.

Access the “Connecting Connecticut: What’s Happening with Health Information Exchange in the State” brief in full to read and download the latest on HIE.