Opportunity for Public Input into Evidence Report on Health Information Exchange

In the fall of 2013, I reported on a new project for which OHSU had been awarded a contract to carry out a systematic review of the evidence base for health information exchange (HIE). This project was funded under the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) Effective Healthcare Program. Our Department of Medical Informatics & Clinical Epidemiology (DMICE) houses one of the 12 Evidence-Based Practice Centers (EPCs) funded by the AHRQ to create evidence reports on a variety of healthcare topics.

I am pleased to report that the project is just about complete, and those who are interested in it can actually contribute. As is the case with all AHRQ evidence reports, a draft of the report has been posted for public comment. I encourage interested people to download the draft report and provide comments.

While there have unfortunately been two other systematic reviews to appear in the last few months [1,2], our report, based on AHRQ EPC protocols for evidence reports, will hopefully be more comprehensive and have used a more inclusive process. One of those processes is a period of public comment (simultaneous with formal peer review). The public comment period has just started and will be open until April 8, 2015. We look forward to constructive comments that will help improve the final report, which will be available in a few months.

References

1. Rudin, RS, Motala, A, et al. (2014). Usage and effect of health information exchange: a systematic review. Annals of Internal Medicine. 161: 803-811.

2. Rahurkar, S, Vest, JR, et al. (2015). Despite the spread of health information exchange, there is little evidence of its impact on cost, use, and quality of care. Health Affairs. 34: 477-483.