Anyone evaluating a health information exchange (HIE) eventually asks the same question: how big is the network, and is it actually being used? “Network by the Numbers” was Arizona Health-e Connection’s way of answering that honestly — with adoption, coverage, and utilization metrics rather than marketing language. This page explains the measures that matter when you judge the reach of a statewide HIE.
Connected organizations vs. active participants
The headline figure for any health information exchange HIE is the number of connected organizations. But a more honest measure is active participants — those whose systems are sending and receiving data on a routine basis, not merely signed up. AzHeC tracked both, because a directory of dormant connections tells you nothing about clinical value.
Population coverage
Coverage answers: for a randomly chosen Arizona patient, what share of their care history is reachable through the exchange? This is the single most predictive metric for whether a clinician will trust and use the HIE at the point of care. High coverage comes from connecting hospitals, large medical groups, labs, pharmacies, and — critically — the long tail of small practices that a subsidy program is designed to reach.
Data volume and types
- Clinical documents exchanged per month (continuity-of-care documents, discharge summaries).
- Lab and diagnostic results delivered electronically rather than by fax.
- Admission, discharge, and transfer (ADT) alerts — often the highest-impact, lowest-friction data type.
- Medication and e-prescribing transactions.
Utilization: queries that change decisions
A health information exchange HIE only earns its keep when a query changes a clinical decision — avoiding a duplicate CT scan, catching a drug interaction, or surfacing a recent ED visit. Utilization metrics (queries per provider per month, result-open rates) reveal whether the exchange is part of the workflow or an unused login.
Why ADT alerts punch above their weight
Of all the data an HIE moves, real-time ADT notifications consistently deliver the most value for the least effort. A primary care team that learns within minutes that their patient was admitted overnight can intervene before a costly readmission. This is care coordination at its most concrete, and it is why event notification was a centerpiece of AzHeC’s network growth.
From metrics to the bedside
Strong network numbers only translate into better care if clinicians can act on the data where they work. That increasingly means viewing HIE results on medical-grade tablets at the bedside and on smart connected devices that feed structured data back into the record. Organizations planning that hardware layer often start with LAC’s diagnostic equipment catalog.
FAQ
What is the most important HIE metric? Population coverage — it predicts whether clinicians will actually use the exchange.
Why distinguish connected from active? A connection that sends no data adds no clinical value; activity is the real signal.
Are these numbers public? Aggregate adoption figures are typically shared; patient-level data is never disclosed.
See related detail on our statewide HIE and records exchange pages, or browse news and resources.
This page provides general information and is not medical or legal advice.