A health information exchange in western New York helped the Erie County Department of Health save time and money on the surveillance of sexually transmitted infections, according to a study published in the Health Information Management Journal.
The research team — led by Saira N. Haque, PhD, senior health informaticist with the nonprofit institute RTI International — conducted interviews, reviewed documents and mapped workflows to identify time savings associated with exchanging chlamydia and gonorrhoea demographic and treatment information through the HIE. They also considered case rates and salary averages to calculate average cost savings.
The researchers found the HIE supported STI surveillance by streamlining the process for Erie County Department of Health staff to identify and act upon new diagnoses. Since the STI diagnosis information was available online, staff did not have to rely on physicians to provide demographic or treatment information, resulting in time and cost savings for chlamydia and gonorrhea cases.
"Results indicated that using HIE to support treatment and management of STIs can save public health staff time spent on obtaining demographic and treatment information," the study authors concluded. "Other public health departments could use HIE for this and other types of disease surveillance activities."