Health Data Exchange Drives Efficiency and Cuts Costs

With California’s Data Exchange Framework constantly evolving, the California Health Care Foundation (CHCF) initiated research to explore how health data exchange can reduce health care costs and improve affordability. With new legislation under consideration to strengthen governance for the Data Exchange Framework, CHCF sought timely insights to guide strategy and investment. The goal is to identify real-world use cases, research findings, and early return on investment (ROI) signals that show where health information exchange (HIE) is already delivering value — and where untapped potential remains.

The effort included six expert interviews and analysis of more than 30 peer-reviewed studies, use cases, and evaluations. This brief is intended to inform stakeholders about the findings.

The findings underscore that the greatest near-term savings lie in reducing administrative waste, particularly time spent retrieving charts and avoiding duplicative imaging. Real-time Admissions, Discharge, and Transfer (ADT) alerts also emerged as a powerful tool, enabling better care transitions, fewer readmissions, and even lower mortality when fully integrated into workflows. Cross-sector use cases, including housing and jail transitions, show early signs of improving both quality and cost but remain underleveraged. Importantly, the ROI depends on strong execution, which requires clear incentives, seamless technical integration, and robust Medicaid leadership. Stakeholders emphasized that traction depends on specific, high-impact use cases — when data exchange supports clearly defined workflows, meaningful results follow.

Read the full report published by the California Health Care Foundation.