Dr. Field: “The Health IT Nine Week Certificate Program provides students with hands-on learning during the first five weeks of the program with multiple Electronic Health Records (EHRs) software systems. The sixth week, the students come into the HIE laboratory to transfer simulated patient data they have previously entered into two different EHRs between pairs of virtual practices utilizing two HIE software systems.

“Using guided exercises, they send and retrieve Continuity of Care Documents (CCDs) using the EHRs via the HIEs, view the simulated patient data in the portal of one of the HIEs, and test the patient-matching capabilities of the software. These exercises also allow students to see first-hand the implementation of privacy and security features built into the technology, including patient opt-in/opt-out and ‘breaking the privacy seal’ to access simulated patient data.

“In addition, students compare the contents of the physician ‘progress notes’ created during their EHR exercises with the CCDs generated by the EHRs, and with aggregated CCDs generated by one of the HIEs.”

Commentary by Students in the Fall 2012 Health IT Certificate Program:

    “Since I am a very hands-on person, I really enjoyed working in the UT HIE laboratory. I was able to see concepts we learned in class come to life in a real-world setting. I learned first-hand about breaking the privacy seal, using the electronic health record (EHR) to opt-in a patient, creating a Continuity of Care Document (CCD), and ultimately merging the test patient’s records together from different EHRs. It was an invaluable experience.” – A. Roberts

    “Working in the HIE laboratory has taught me how useful and easy it is to access patient’s important medical information through a Continuity of Care Document (CCD). I have also had the opportunity to learn where HIEs need to be improved to maximize quality of care.” – S. Standifer

    “The hands-on HIE experience helped me to gain a better understanding of what information can be transmitted between doctors and how useful that information can be. Now I really get why HIEs are so important and that they are key to the continuity of care of a patient” – S. Zimmerman

    “It was very beneficial to be able to get our hands on this exclusive technology after learning about health information exchanges in class. This one-of-a-kind lab at the University of Texas at Austin has allowed us to connect a concept from lecture to a real-world application.” – A. Ray

    “This software really allows you to experience health information exchange between two different cities and providers. You can see how valuable this will be for a patient’s continuity of care.” – A. Momin

How do the experiences in working with the Texas Health Services Authority (THSA) for the State of Texas help your students and how has it helped the THSA? What key lessons have the students learned by creating* a simulated Central Texas Regional HIE and North Texas Regional HIE?