One criteria of Health Information Exchanges is to provide electronically transmitted data, regionally, across all disparate health care providers. One of the main purposes of the Health Information Exchange is to provide doctors with the most up to date patient information available, no matter the doctor’s health organization affiliation.

Research supports that patients benefit from more effective patient-centered care. The Health Information Exchange allows doctors to reduce duplicate testing and eliminate bad decisions made because of incomplete or inaccurate information.

Not only does the Health Information Exchange allow quick access to test results, it also coordinates outpatient and inpatient records, along with emergency room visits and medication histories. This reduces the possibility of a patient being prescribe a medication that may be contra indicated by another medication prescribed for a different illness by a different doctor.

The Health Information Exchange is able to facilitate the transition from hospital to nursing home. With the current paper based system, as a patient is transferred from hospital to a nursing home, or from one nursing home to another, information may be lost. Access to the Health Information Exchange eliminates this problem.

Health Information Exchanges can also be used for the management of diseases and chronic care. This removes a great burden from patients who may have a chronic, debilitating disease. It will no longer be necessary for these patients to arrive at each specialist appointment with a thick folder documenting their previous treatments.

A substantial savings in overall health care costs can be brought about by eliminating duplicate testing, and ensuring that patients receive the correct diagnosis on the first visit.