Inter-organizational information sharing and bundled payment reimbursement: Do hospitals in the US use health information exchange to collaborate?

Objective: The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between the greater need for information generated by bundled payment reimbursement and the use of Health Information Exchange (HIE).

Methods: The study is based on a secondary data analysis using theAmerican Hospital Association (AHA) Healthcare IT Database and the AHA Annual Survey. A logistic regression was used to test the likelihood of hospitals participating in HIE if they were involved in bundled payment reimbursement. Negative binomial, ordered logistic and Poisson regression models were used to determine the associations between bundled payment reimbursement and health information sharing in terms of breadth, volume, and diversity, respectively.

Results: Hospitals in bundled payment programs were more likely to send and receive information through HIE and tosend information to different types of health providers but not to receive. They were also more likely to exchange different types of health information and to use HIE more often.

Conclusions: The greater need for collaboration of hospitals participating in bundled payment programs was associated with greater information sharing among organizations through HIE, but different providers involved in the episode of care play different roles in HIE.