How Does HIE Improve the Quality, Safety, and Efficiency of Health Care?

HASA FAQs

What is HIE?

Electronic health information exchange, or "HIE," is the real-time, electronic movement of health-related information among organizations according to nationally recognized standards.

What is HASA?

Healthcare Access San Antonio (HASA) is a non-profit, community health information exchange that facilitates electronic exchange of patient information with other physicians, hospitals, labs, pharmacies, and other providers. Sharing this information helps providers save patients’ time and provide better treatment.

How does HIE improve the quality, safety, and efficiency of health care?

Interconnecting clinical providers and patients through a secure, electronic health information system that ensures confidentiality through appropriate levels of patient consent will help to ensure providers have access to the right information at the right time.

Access by authorized providers to past clinical information about patients will enable physicians and other clinicians to provide better care, reduce duplicative tests, and avoid adverse drug events, among other things. Providers will also have access to new clinical guidelines to use when making medical decisions. Ultimately, patients will receive higher quality care and have access to additional information so that they can better manage their personal health or health care.

What about patient privacy?

Federal and state laws protect the privacy and confidentiality of patient health information. The Texas Health Service Authority (THSA), in coordination with the HHSC and with guidance from the Texas Legislature and input from stakeholders, is working to develop uniform standards and policies to protect the privacy and security of personal health information exchanged between authorized health care providers in Texas.

The THSA believes the patient and consumer should be the focus of all other efforts in health information technology. Patient control and ownership of personal health information must be protected and patient privacy must be respected. Health information technology has great potential to benefit health outcomes for consumers but not at the risk of violating personal privacy.

What is "meaningful use?"

The federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) provides incentives for eligible Medicaid and Medicare physicians and hospitals to encourage adoption of electronic health records (EHRs).

In order to fully qualify for these incentives, physicians and hospitals must make "meaningful use" of the EHRs by exchanging clinical health data across secure networks.

The Federal Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services has published regulatory rules that provide guidelines to health professionals and hospitals on how to adopt and use electronic health records in a meaningful way to help improve the quality, safety, and efficiency of patient care.

What is HASA’s service area?

HASA is responsible for a 22 county region to include: Atascosa, Bandera, Bexar, Comal, DeWitt, Edwards, Frio, Kerr, Kendall, Gillespie, Guadalupe, Gonzales, Hays, Medina, Mason, Menard, Karnes, Kinney, Real, Uvalde, Val Verde and Wilson. In late 2015, HASA extended their service area to include the Dallas-Fort Worth Area and parts of West Texas.

Who are the HASA Stakeholders?

HASA’s Board of Directors is comprised of 16 members who are intended to mirror the healthcare landscape in our region. They include: Atascosa Health Center, Baptist Health System, CentroMed, CHRISTUS Santa Rosa, Clarity Child Guidance Center, Clinical Pathology Laboratories, CommuniCare Health Centers, Community First Health Plans, Daughters of Charity, HEB, Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas, Inc., Methodist Healthcare System, San Antonio Military Health System, University Health Systems, UT Medicine, Bexar County Medical Society, and YMCA. For a complete listing of the sitting members, please refer to www.hasatx.org

Who else has agreed to participate in HASA?

In addition to our stakeholders, we have data sharing with NIX Healthcare & Uvalde Memorial Hospital, and interfaces in progress with Center for Health Care Services, Labcorp, Quest and CPL. For a complete listing of our HIE participants, please see our website at www.hasatx.org

What services does HASA offer to the community?

In addition to supporting the secure, electronic exchange of data among the different healthcare providers in our region, HASA also will offer a complete range of services for hospitals and providers to meet meaningful use requirements and improve the flow of informations. In late 2014, HASA began enabling patients with the ability to manage their own health information through a patient portal called the GoAccount.

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