Health information exchange between hospital and skilled nursing facilities not associated with lower readmissions

ObjectiveTo assess whether an electronic health record (EHR) portal to enable health information exchange (HIE) between a hospital and three skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) reduced likelihood of patient readmission.Setting/DataSecondary data; all discharges from a large academic medical center to SNFs between July 2013 and March 2017, combined with portal usage records from SNFs with HIE access.DesignWe use differenceâ inâ differences to determine whether portal implementation reduced likelihood of readmission over time for patients discharged to HIEâ enabled SNFs, relative to those discharged to nonenabled facilities. Additional descriptive analyses of audit log data characterize portal use within enabled facilities.Data CollectionEncounterâ level clinical EHR data were merged with EHR audit log data that captured portal usage in the timeframe associated with a patient transition from hospital to SNF.Principal FindingsDeclines in likelihood of 30â day readmission were not significantly different for patients in HIEâ enabled vs control SNFs (diffâ inâ diff = 0.022; P = .431). We observe similar null effects with shorter readmission windows. The portal was used for 46 percent of discharges, with significant usage pattern variation within/across facilities.ConclusionsImplementation of a hospitalâ SNF EHR portal did not reduce readmissions from enabled SNFs. Emergent HIE use cases need to be better defined and leveraged for design and implementation that generates value in the context of postacute transitions.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/153113/1/hesr13210.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/153113/2/hesr13210-sup-0001-Authormatrix.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/153113/3/hesr13210_am.pd