Table 2.

Respondent comments on overall functionality and quality of CeHA

Respondent no.	Comments
Positive comments about CeHA
A1	“I like it a lot. Could be made better, but it’s pretty good now. Saves from repeating studies and can get very useful records especially for complicated patients.”
A11	“I am new to it, but it is a great resource.”
A15	“Works well. Links frequently nonfunctional.”
A2	“Works great! Very helpful but not all hospitals have information up in timely manner.”
A20	“Very good.”
A21	“Think it’s needed and certainly hope it will continue.”
A22	“A wonderful resource!”
A23	“Great overall. Very helpful.”
A25	“Great resource, but still needs improvements.”
A29, A40	“Excellent.”
A31	“Great.”
A4, A33	“Good.”
A34	“Good overall system. Some charts seem incomplete, but most of the time, I find what I am looking for.”
A35	“Love it.”
A36	“Excellent overall and almost always helpful.”
A43	“Excellent—generally best when expecting to find information (patient states had visited ED or was hospitalized).”
A44	“The CeHA system is a great asset to ED providers in being able to provide quality care to our patients. The functionality seems to vary highly, but has improved over the last year.”
A47	“Not bad, not great.”
Benefits of CeHA
B5	“A single login at the beginning of my shift gives me access for an entire day’s worth of patients.”
B6	“Quality is improving, and the answer to a clinical question is present in the CeHA about 50% of the time.”
C12	“Recent CeHA updates have continued to improve functionality and quality.”
Issues with CeHA
C13	“Works well. Occasionally doesn’t have all the information I want. Also would be nice if it made it more clear which facility the patient was seen in. For example, a hospital where the record is from may require you to read closely in the summary to figure which of their facilities patient was in.”
C24	“Could be easier to use, and lots of times I find the information is not updated frequently.”
C3	“Wish the Web site was easier to use and information more easily obtainable.”
C48	“Overall good functionality; having not received any orientation on how to use it, I found it relatively user-friendly.”
C7	“When it has information, it helps, especially in complex patients that bounce back and forth between hospitals.”
Proposed improvements
D14	“Needs some work and won’t reach its potential until it is embedded into the EMR.”
D16	“Think it’s a great resource, but would be nice to be able to print lab results.”
D18	“Very limited in its ability to provide recent notes from other EDs. Discharge instructions are usually present, but instructions do not reflect the content of the case.”
D19	“Need to make it easier to use and would be best if it was integrated into medical record.”
D27	“When fully complete will be invaluable.”
D28	“The information is invaluable. The design/interface are poor and represent the greatest hurdle to using CeHA.”
D30	“Quality is decent, could provide even more information to be more helpful. Functionality is fine, would like to be able to print findings!”
D32	“Better if built into Epic.”
D37	“Pretty good, but lacking in many areas.”
D38	“Very nice to have, but could be improved. Would also be very helpful to include records from other hospitals.”
D41	“ED records need to be available. Old EKGs need to be available. This is a very useful tool that needs to be supported and made more robust.”
D45	“Has potential but very buggy. Wish it were more consistent in terms of availability of information.”
D46	“When I am able to find information, I usually find it extremely helpful and useful. There are often times when I know that a patient has had recent studies, tests, or ER visits, but the information is not present in CeHA”
D8	“I think having it integrated in to our EMR would be a big help! One less password and log on to remember!”
D9	“It works well, but would be better if embedded in Epic.”
Response of none
E10, E17, E39, E42	None
No response
F26

All hospital names were removed from all of the comments.

CeHA, Carolina eHealth Alliance health information exchange; ED, emergency department; EKG, electrocardiogram; EMR, electronic medical record.