- By Dale Emerson, COO of Hielix

In our work in Health Information Exchange (HIE), we are often asked to help gather information for and from the community on HIE, garner community support for the HIE, and help drive the adoption and migration of and to Electronic Health Records, or EHRs.

Our experience in and with HIE has allowed us to develop a set of Community Readiness Assessment and Education tools to determine stakeholder and community needs and readiness for HIE, as well as to begin the process of building support and consensus for HIE.

Regardless of your tools for such an assessment, it is critical to engage and involve the community with the HIE, answer any community/provider questions, and to gather information.  Key information, questions, and learnings are:

1.) Begin the consensus building decision process by identifying the various value propositions for the key stakeholders

2.) Provide community education about HIE and its importance to the future of health care in the state, region, and community

3.) Understand the current IT capabilities of the various stakeholders

In your process, it is critical to gather information from various stakeholders and consumers including but not limited to:

·      Vision, mission and values
·      Strategic plans for HIE
·      HIE capital and operating budgets
·      Privacy and security plans / concerns

By meeting with a broad group of stakeholders from across the community and region/state, and by engaging these stakeholders, you can gain an understanding of the wants, needs, questions, and concerns of the HIE stakeholders and community as a whole.