HIE: Accessing Records from the Health Information Exchange

HIE allows you to securely retrieve a patient’s clinical records from the Health Information Exchange (HIE) network directly within Akute. This helps ensure you have the most complete picture of your patient’s care history, including hospital records, diagnostic reports, and lab results.

How it Works

  1. Open a Patient Chart: Navigate to any patient’s chart in Akute. As long as the chart contains enough demographics (such as name, date of birth, and address), you can initiate a record request.
  2. Locate the HIE Record Request Icon: In the patient’s summary bar, you’ll see a sync-style icon. Hovering over it will display “HIE Record Request.”
  3. Request Records: Click the icon to enroll the patient in the network search. You’ll see a list of matching patients from the HIE. If multiple matches are shown, select the one that best corresponds with your patient. If no matches appear, it means no records are currently available through the network.
  4. Retrieve Results: Once you confirm, the system will request available records. This process may take a few minutes. New diagnostic reports will appear under the Documents/Tasks section for review. New lab results will appear under the Labs tab and can be trended as usual. All records are pulled automatically in the background.

Things to Know Before You Start

  • This feature is not Care Everywhere and does not involve logging into other Epic instances.
  • You are requesting records for a patient from the regional HIE network.
  • Records are generally regional. If a patient has recently moved or changed address, you may find fewer records tied to their prior location.
  • All data found through the network will be imported into the patient’s chart.
  • Once you request records for a patient, you are automatically sharing that patient’s records as well. This means that if another practice requests records for the same patient, they will see what you have shared.

What You’ll See

  • Lab Results
  • Vital Signs
  • Surgical History
  • Family History
  • Problem List (Diagnoses)
  • Automatic Updates: Once a request is made, HIE will continue pulling available data as it becomes available.

Notes

  • Record availability depends on whether the patient has prior encounters or data stored in the HIE.
  • Some patients may not return any records if they have no prior network data.
  • This feature is available in production environments for practices with HIE connectivity enabled.

Why It Matters

HIE reduces the need for faxed records, manual phone calls, or waiting for outside reports. By surfacing a patient’s broader medical history inside Akute, providers can make faster, more informed decisions and improve continuity of care. If you're interested in enrolling in HIE, please reach out to support@akutehealth.com to get started.