Getty Images/iStockphoto
How a Health Information Exchange Can Boost COVID-19 Vaccination
Two healthcare professionals from Brookings Institution explained how public health officials can leverage health information exchange platforms to monitor COVID-19 vaccination statuses and outbreaks.
Health information exchanges (HIEs) are needed to help states identify and prioritize individuals who receive the COVID-19 vaccine. Without leveraging HIEs, the coronavirus recovery timeline could extend.
Niam Yaraghi and Peter L. Levin, a nonresident fellow and an adjunct senior fellow, respectively, at the Brookings Institution, penned an op-ed that said HIEs can boost COVID-19 vaccination efforts.
“While the U.S. employed every possible resource to develop the vaccines, we are neglecting to use the best available information technologies to efficiently distribute them,” wrote Yaraghi and Levin. “We could do a much better job fighting this pandemical war with weapons we already have.”
Although two vaccines were developed within the first year, vaccinations are not occurring at a rapid rate.
The two health professionals said HIEs could improve these efforts.
HIE networks can streamline patient data sharing between providers. Because these platforms can exchange lab results, admission records, and prescriptions, public health officials can leverage them to monitor outbreaks and vaccination status.
Yaraghi and Levin recommended five ways that HIEs could accelerate mass immunization to improve public health:
Identify and prioritize high-risk individuals
The two authors said public health officials could leverage HIE data to assemble a list of age-eligible individuals and high-risk individuals. Once identified, officials can contact those individuals to ensure they are vaccinated.
Real-time vaccination monitoring campaigns
Once public health officials assemble the roster of eligible patients, they can utilize the HIE platform to monitor patient vaccination status in real-time. The HIE can keep track of dates, times, and vaccination locations on a single display.
Report and monitor potential vaccination side effects
Officials could also leverage the HIE to identify and report any potential vaccine side effects, the two authors wrote.
“In addition to providing direct real-time medical benefits during an encounter, over time and in aggregate, these platforms enable health officials to assure the public about the safety of the vaccine,” said Yaraghi and Levin. “At the very least, HIE platforms can be a crucial source of information if there are reactions.”
Without the HIE platform, reported side effects and analysis could be time-consuming. These delays could result in public backlash and broken trust.
Manage overburdened medical facilities
An HIE platform can assess when a community or population is likely to achieve herd immunity. The platform can evaluate this by having a longitudinal view of patient medical records to see a patient’s vaccination status.
The two authors also said HIEs can ensure providers know a patient’s medical prior medical status. “Hospitals could use this information to better manage their facilities and strained resources; knowing if an individual poses infection risks would allow facilities to prioritize care provision, determine the need for additional COVID-19 testing, and decide who they must treat in isolated wards,” wrote Yaraghi and Levin.
Integrating major delivery networks, such as Veterans Affairs
The two healthcare professionals noted the majority of HIEs are provider-to-provider networks and cannot provide patients access to their own health information. However, the Veterans Affairs connects patients and beneficiaries through their Blue Button services, they offered as an example.
“VA runs the largest electronic medical record system in the United States; it could easily and proactively contact veterans who receive health services inside and outside VA, suggest places where they can be inoculated, and keep track of this special cohort all in one place,” the authors wrote.
Furthermore, Yaraghi and Levin evaluated COVID-19 vaccination data to rank each state by their vaccination rate. However, the two authors said they are concerned with HIE use and availability.
“Our simple observation is that the two states with best immunization penetration as of this writing, and the two states with the lowest, are not engaging their HIEs to identify, promote, record, and track immunization,” the writers explained.
Although Alaska has the highest number of vaccination doses per 100,000 people, it does not mention any use of its robust HIE system. Additionally, West Virginia has the second-highest number of doses, but the state does not plan to use its HIE platform to help distribute the vaccine.
On the contrary, Connecticut has not launched its HIE but it has a higher vaccination rate than New York, which boasts one of the top HIE networks in the country.
Either way, the two authors said public health officials can leverage HIE platforms in a variety of ways to streamline and improve the current COVID-19 vaccination process.