Optimization of HIE Network Subscription Rates and Investigation of Effect of a New Hybrid Subscription Plan on HIE Sustainability

摘要

A health information exchange (HIE) network facilitates patient information sharing among healthcare providers (HPs) which helps them reduce readmissions, mortality, and duplicated tests. The HIE service is provided by a non-profit/profit organization under several subscription plan (SP) options such as paying per visit, paying per look-up, and paying annually. The most significant challenges HIE owners face are determining the SP rates that keep HIE network sustainable and offering SPs that provide sufficient profit to HPs to join. This research proposes a new hybrid SP to enhance HIE network sustainability. To optimize the SP rates and investigate the effect of hybrid plan, a Monte Carlo simulation combined with Tabu search algorithm is employed. Experimental results indicate that the new hybrid plan improves HIE sustainability in terms of profit and HPs' willingness to join the network.