What does a health information exchange (HIE) allow healthcare organizations to do?

A health information exchange (HIE) facilitates the electronic sharing of patient data among healthcare organizations. This digital platform enables different entities, such as hospitals, clinics, and laboratories, to access and exchange patients’ health information securely and efficiently. By doing so, HIEs enhance the continuity of care and improve healthcare outcomes, as providers can view a patient’s complete medical history and make informed decisions based on comprehensive data.

The options that describe sharing financial data or manually transferring patient records do not align with the primary function of an HIE, which emphasizes electronic data sharing. Similarly, while conducting research on patient outcomes is essential in healthcare, it is not a direct function of HIEs, which focus more on real-time data exchange for patient care rather than research purposes.