Leaders of critical-access hospitals and other rural hospitals and healthcare clinics now have access to a tool kit containing five online guides to help them participate in health information exchange.
The kit, developed by the not-for-profit National Rural Health Resource Center, based in Duluth, Minn., includes an assessment guide detailing what to consider before forming or joining a health information exchange; a spreadsheet to calculate an organization's return-on-investment from HIE; a guide to understanding the federally developed Direct protocol for basic peer-to-peer records exchange; a primer on health information exchange policies; and an overview of privacy and security issues under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 2009.
