Surveying Lab, Physician E-Health Data Exchange

How well clinical laboratories exchange health information electronically with test ordering physicians is the subject of a survey that the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology launched in late January. Results are to be posted on its Web site this summer. More than 2,700 hospital-based clinical labs and about 2,000 independent labs are among those in the study’s random sample that are invited to participate. The survey will concentrate on two measures: the percentage of laboratory facilities that are able to send structured lab results electronically to ordering physicians and the percentage of lab results now being sent electronically to ordering physicians. The College of American Pathologists and the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives are urging their members to participate if selected for the survey. The data will be used to support the work of the State Health Information Exchange Cooperative Agreement Program by providing a baseline of information exchange required and targeted help to those behind the nationwide average. For labs in the study, the survey is expected to take no more than 20 minutes to complete.