More than 133 million Americans — almost half of the nation’s population —currently are afflicted with at least one chronic health care condition. Individuals with chronic conditions account for 78 percent of total health care costs, largely the result of hospital and emergency room visits due to complications from their condition.  Health Information Exchanges (HIEs) and other related technologies can play an integral role in helping physicians better manage chronic conditions, reduce the costs of chronic care and improve — even save — patients’ lives. 

Coordinating Chronic Care Management through Health Information Exchanges: Better Care, Lower Costs, a new paper from the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions, part of Deloitte LLP, discusses the economic and clinical benefits that HIE-enabled chronic care management can provide for patients and the health care industry as a whole. 

Our nation’s current system of chronic care management does not effectively use information technology to manage care. Additionally, health plans do not typically provide incentives for physicians to coach patients on managing their chronic illnesses.  Future state, HIE-enabled coordinated care offers the ability to:

• Improve diagnostic accuracy
• Enhance physician-patient relationships
• Improve care team coordination
• Lower costs

The paper illustrates the potential cost savings HIE use could produce in a hypothetical model segment of the chronic care population. It also cites innovators who are using HIE for chronic care management programs. 

To read the paper, please download the attached PDF.

To access the portfolio of Deloitte Center for Health Solutions research on HIEs, please visit: www.deloitte.com/us/healthsolutions/hie.

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