Build it and they will come? Assessment of use, usability and usefulness of the keystone health information exchange

Health Information Exchange (HIE) can have several benefits, in particular facilitating access to and sharing of patient-related information. Despite these potential benefits, implementation and maintenance of HIEs have been challenging and many attempts to develop HIEs have been abandoned. Most research on HIE focuses on the financial, organizational, and technical aspects of HIE and tends to ignore user acceptance and use of HIE. In this study we examined the Keystone HIE (KeyHIE) and surveyed clinicians to evaluate KeyHIE from their perspective. Results show that –from a user perspective- there are several barriers to the use of KeyHIE. Results of the study can help further development of KeyHIE and are useful for other HIEs.