Report: CA Project Shows Health Data Sharing Feasible

July 16, 2003 -- A unique electronic network that physicians, hospitals, labs, patients, and others in Santa Barbara County can use to securely share patient-specific information via the Internet promises to be financially self-sustaining and offers valuable lessons about promoting health information exchange elsewhere, according to a new report published by the California HealthCare Foundation (CHCF).

Based on an analysis included in the report, the Santa Barbara County Care Data Exchange (SBCCDE), a public-private collaboration of health care providers operating on a pilot basis since earlier this year, can provide a net financial benefit to the participants by reducing labor and transaction costs associated with manual data handling. According to the report, savings would be even greater than calculated if clinical efficiencies-fewer hospital admissions, fewer medical errors, and reduction of duplicate tests-were quantified.

"We've been able to demonstrate that sharing information about patients online is legally, organizationally, and technically feasible," said Sam Karp, co-author of the new report 'Moving Toward Electronic Health Information Exchange: Interim Report on the Santa Barbara County Care Data Exchange'. Karp is the director of Health Information Technology at the California HealthCare Foundation, which has supported the venture with a $10 million grant.

The SBCCDE is expected to be fully operational by the end of the year. At that time a study of its quality and service benefits will be conducted, Karp noted.

CHCF selected CareScience Inc., an Internet-based care management solutions company, to serve as the project manager and develop the technology in 1999 after health care leaders in Santa Barbara approached CHCF with a vision for creating a community-owned data exchange network.

"The Care Data Exchange network seeks to improve the quality of health care in Santa Barbara County by making patient information – clinical reports, test results, radiology images, eligibility, and administrative data – readily available at the point of care to authorized users," said David Brailer, MD, PhD, co-author of the report and the project's principal investigator.

Participants in the locally governed exchange, who share the information through secure peer-to-peer technology, include local hospitals, the regional health authority, county health department, medical clinics, and a radiology lab. Data shared over the Care Data Exchange network continues to reside on information systems belonging to participants and does not have to be placed in a central data warehouse.

The study looked at six scenarios for the Care Data Exchange model: small, medium, and large health care markets with either a low or high number of care providers. It concluded that the model would generate a positive financial return in all but small communities-those with one hospital and fewer than 100 physicians. Santa Barbara County is a medium-size market.

"Santa Barbara County is really a laboratory for other regions and for national policy discussions about health information exchange," said Karp.

"While this project is still getting up to speed, it has highlighted a variety of ways that federal policy could be altered to promote health information exchange," Brailer said.

Possibilities for federal initiatives include developing:

• Financial incentives to stimulate the development of electronic networks;
• Clear federal health care regulation "safe harbors" that remove questions about legality;
• Operating standards and support organizations for health exchange networks; and
• A variety of health information technologies.

Read the report, "Moving Toward Electronic Health Information Exchange: Interim Report on the Santa Barbara County Care Data Exchange" (PDF).

Go to TOP