Impact of Health Information Exchange adoption on physician's referral behavior

The primary objective of this research is to analyze how Health Information Exchanges (HIE) implemented as part of the U.S. healthcare reform, contribute to improving physician communication during a referral process. This study shows that the adoption of HIE increases a physician's tendency to refer patients to another physician who is also a HIE participant rather than a non-participant. By using expectancy theory, we postulate that HIE members are motivated to refer their patients to other physicians participating in the HIE. This leads to a better quality of care by making patient information readily available at the point of care. We provide statistical evidence that HIE adoption impacts physicians' referral patterns; further the tendency to refer patients within the HIE membership increases with the tenure of physician membership. These results have significant impact on both healthcare policy making and HIE business models.