# Health Information Exchange Utilization and Inter-hospital Transfer Outcomes

> **NIH AHRQ R01** · UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA · 2020 · $331,702

## Abstract

Grant Summary
Approximately 1.6 million patients are transferred between hospitals yearly, experience a disproportionately
high mortality, and cost in excess of $100 billion yearly. Inter-hospital transfers are a representative high risk
transition of care that occurs across disparate health care systems wherein health information systems often
do not effectively share data. Frequent breakdowns in information handling make this population particularly
vulnerable to errors. Improving inter-operability of electronic health records (EHR) such as through adoption of
regional Health Information Exchanges (HIE) has the potential to facilitate care coordination throughout the
transfer process and improve patient outcomes. The overarching objective of this application are to
demonstrate at the population and patient level that interoperability improves mortality and care efficiency.
Over the 4 years of the proposed study we will accomplish this goal across 3 complimentary aims: Aim 1: We
will perform a large population study linking hospital participation of a health information exchange to outcomes
and cost of care following an inter hospital transfer. Aim 2: We will complete an interventional study
interventional studies that improves the usability available data sharing tools and determine the impact on
patient safety and outcomes. Aim 3: We will investigate the impact of the seamless integration of two EHR
systems following the merger of two hospital systems which frequently transfer patients. This project will
provide valuable information for both policy makers and hospital administrators as they design interventions to
improve EHR interoperability. Additionally, this study will inform best practices on how to coordinate the care
of a patent transferred between hospitals and directly improve outcomes.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9898369
- **Project number:** 5R01HS026732-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA
- **Principal Investigator:** Michael G. Usher
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** AHRQ
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $331,702
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-04-01 → 2023-01-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9898369

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9898369, Health Information Exchange Utilization and Inter-hospital Transfer Outcomes (5R01HS026732-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9898369. Licensed CC0.

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