Over the past 20 years, the U.S. government has struggled to apply standards across the country's highly complex, fragmented health care system to combat its inefficiency, waste, and preponderance of medical error. Part of the solution has been the nationwide implementation of an interoperable health information technology (HIT) infrastructure to improve the quality and efficiency of healthcare and encourage integration and information exchange among healthcare providers through the use of a health information exchange (HIE): two or more organizations sharing patient medical information using the same technology and standards.

There is tangible evidence that HIEs are gaining widespread adoption. A report released by the eHealth Initiative, Fifth Annual Survey of Health Information Exchange at the State and Local Levels, reflecting a poll of 130 community-based initiatives in 48 states, revealed significant advances in HIEs. The report also documents a 30 percent increase in the number of operational HIEs over last year.¹

In many ways, emergency departments have gotten lost in this technological transformation because ED staff members usually work in isolation from other clinicians in the medical community, heightening the need for adoption of electronic health records (EHRs). There is a sense of urgency, particularly in light of the rise in ED visits: 119.2 million ED visits in 2006, an increase of 36 percent in the course of a decade.²

That means an increased number of patients coming to the ED without the benefit of an integrated electronic record detailing their medical history, and who are unable to efficiently and accurately share treatment information during and post-ED care.

As it is, an ED visit is often a one-time encounter, which does not offer continuity of treatment based on a patient's medical history. So the goal for ED health care providers becomes not one of how to control the rising burden, but rather of maximizing this point of contact for each patient.

The solution to this challenge lies in a single-source portal that provides patient information at every touch point of the health care continuum. As a result, all care providers have access to a comprehensive view of a patient's medical information, with data that has been aggregated from multiple sources. Today, the emergence of this type of system is able to leverage existing technology, with functionality that ensures seamless communications across all hospital systems. In the ED - where every minute counts - this instant access and real-time communication is vital.