Reaching Out To Physicians
Before speaking to physician groups or meeting with physician practices, there are a number of questions you should be prepared to answer about your community health information exchange initiative. We have developed a number of communication tools developed for physicians to use with their patients and for you to use in educating physicians. However, we urge you to also review the questions below and draft responses to create your own “Talking Points” as this will be useful as you do your community outreach and speak both formally and informally to the physician community. Don’t underestimate the importance of physician stakeholders- their support is essential to a successful health information exchange initiative.
You may also be interested in sharing with them real-life case examples of health information exchange occuring in other communities.
To assist you we have developed a Guide for Engaging Physicians which will offer you helpful tips as you reach out to physicians in your community.
Our research shows that when talking about health information exchange with physicians, you should first focus on:
► Overview of system security;
► An outline of how the system works and the role of the physician;
► Policies for patient permission and patient consent;
► An explanation of who will have access to the information and how the information will be used;
► A clear statement of the benefits for the physician including cost and time savings.
Other questions that you should be prepared to answer:
- What information is exchanged?
- Who has access to the information?
- How are healthcare providers defined? Does this include insurers, all types of healthcare providers?
- How is it set up? Is it one database or many? Who has the information?
- Is the system regional, national or global?
- What is the back-up system?
- Will a patient be able to view the information?
- How long is the information available online- a lifetime or one-time exchange?
- Do providers have open access and an open authorization or is it on a one-time basis?
- What role does HIPAA play?
- How do you know the information exchanged is trustworthy and not fraudulent?
Physician questions relating to their business issues:
- Do I have to pay to set this up in my practice?
- Who pays to set this up? What is the cost to me?
- How are we going to learn how to use it?
- Who is going to pay to train my staff?
- Is this exchange beyond healthcare services, for instance could the information be used in court?
