title: Physicians' perceptions and use of a health information exchange: a pilot program in South Korea.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We examined physicians' perceived needs, benefits, and concerns regarding health information exchange (HIE) technology prior to experiencing it and their actual usage of exchanged information in care processes during an HIE pilot program in South Korea.
  
  
  METHODS
  We conducted a survey through a structured questionnaire to collect data on physician perceptions about an HIE prior to implementation. We analyzed responses using descriptive statistics and one-way analyses of variance. We also conducted a post-implementation survey through a computerized tool designed to collect data on physician assessment of HIE item usefulness. We defined two indices to measure the volume of information flow and usefulness for individual HIE items and analyzed the indices with Fisher's exact test.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Physicians' overall perceptions about the need for an HIE and benefits of the technology were positive despite their concerns about information safety and security, system costs, and disputes between care providers in cases of malpractice. We found that physician practice settings significantly influenced the details of their perceptions. In the both pre- and post-implementation studies, the most needed and valued information were pathology and lab results, diagnostic imaging, medication, and working diagnosis. Physicians most agreed with the benefit potentials in the quality domain, least agreed with those in time and cost savings of healthcare delivery, and least worried about the decrease in revenues resulting from the technology.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The overall physician acceptance of the HIE technology in South Korea is promising, but the adoption and diffusion strategy needs to be tailored to the type of physician practice. Concerted efforts may be needed to realize the much-anticipated potential of healthcare cost savings.
authors.affiliation: Department of Preventive Medicine, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea.
authors.forename: Sang-Il
authors.initials: SI
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Hayoung
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Jeong-Whun
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Hee
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hwang
authors.forename: Eun-Young
authors.initials: EY
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.forename: Yoon
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Kyooseob
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ha
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001292:Attitude to Computers; D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000379:methods / Q000458:organization & administration*; D005260:Female; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D063005:Health Information Systems / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008498:Medical Record Linkage / Q000379:methods*; D008875:Middle Aged; D010465:Perception; D010820:Physicians / Q000523:psychology*; D010865:Pilot Projects; D015397:Program Evaluation; D056910:Republic of Korea; D017216:Telemedicine / Q000379:methods / Q000458:organization & administration*