Health Interoperability, Innovation and Learning

Social Determinants of Health – October 25, 2025

There is a growing consensus that collecting social determinants of health (SDoH) data is vital for improving health equity, patient outcomes, and quality of care. However, the process for capturing and storing such information presents a challenge to many healthcare organizations and service providers. Hospitals and healthcare practices have begun more routinely collecting SDoH data in both structured and unstructured formats. In addition, community-based organizations (CBOs) also encounter the need to collect such data and bring their own unique set of challenges for both utilizing and sharing the data. With the understanding that barriers currently exist to develop a streamlined SDoH data collection process, Connie, Connecticut’s state-designated health information exchange, sought more information to better understand the landscape of how it could be incorporated more appropriately at the level of the HIE.

At Connie’s request, our research team conducted an environmental scan to gauge healthcare provider and CBO perceptions and attitudes on their experiences collecting SDoH information and receiving referrals. This report summarizes key information from a literature review, a survey, federal guidelines and best practices, nine key informant interviews/focus groups with healthcare and CBO professionals, and two surveys distributed to healthcare and CBO professionals, respectively.

Artificial Intelligence – June, 12, 2024

The use and development of artificial intelligence has increased over the last decade, propelling it into an age of rapid advancement. The progression of AI has piqued the interest of healthcare organizations and researchers to create tools to support the work of providers and manage the burnout related to the increasing amounts of patient data stored. With the increased application of AI in medicine, Connie, Connecticut’s state-designated health information exchange, sought more information to better understand the landscape of AI and how it could be incorporated at the level of the HIE.

Our research team conducted an environmental scan at the request of Connie, Connecticut’s state-designated health information exchange (HIE). The report summarizes key information from a literature review, a glance at relevant federal and state policies, and 6 key informant interviews with other HIE leaders and clinical informaticists at larger hospital systems.

Prior Authorization – October, 30, 2023

Providers aim to ensure patients receive the best care available. However, they are often required by health insurers, both government and commercial, to provide justification for the requested service, medication or equipment before insurance reimbursement is approved. Prior authorization can be a significant barrier to clinical providers’ ability to provide timely care for their patients. Insurance plans continue to set these requirements as an attempt to reduce unnecessary, and at times, ineffective or costly healthcare services. A 2022 Industry survey on prior authorization and gold carding, or the practice of exempting certain clinicians with a proven track-record of evidence-based and cost effective treatments.  by the American Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) listed the most common treatments subject to Prior Authorization from 26 commercial plans:

Beginning in July 2023, UConn Health initiated a landscape scan of the current state of prior authorizations for Connie, Connecticut’s State Designated health information exchange. This document includes the findings from a cursory literature scan, key informant interviews, and a review of the policies proposed by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

eConsults – May 8, 2023

Providers seeking an informal or rapid non-face to face consultations on patient cases has long been a common practice and historically was known as a “curbside consult.” However, over time the primary care physicians spent less time in a hospital setting, the PCP - specialist relationship has evolved to a point where interactions between providers in different fields became more limited. Primary care providers have increased referrals to specialist by almost a factor of two from 1999 to 2009. A number of factors likely contribute to this including lack of overlap of PCP and specialist in hospital settings, the increase in average patient volume, the increased complexity of documentation and increasing usage of specialty procedures and medications. 2 As a result, underserved patients often experience a delay in care, exacerbating conditions that could have been managed relatively easily. eConsults have emerged as a potential solution to this problem by connecting providers with specialists asynchronously to address patient cases in a timely manner and avoiding the need for a face-to-face visit with a new provider.

To better understand the needs of providers, Connie has engaged this research team to conduct an environmental scan to aid in evaluating the potential development of an eConsult use case, which was one of the high priority Use Cases recommended by the Health Information Technology Advisory Council (HITAC) prior to the formation of Connie. Beginning in March 2023, UConn Health initiated a landscape scan of the current state of eConsults. The complete analysis included a cursory literature scan, key informant interviews, and a review of some current eConsult services.

Dental Data Information Exchange – April 23, 2023

Connie, Connecticut’s designated Health Information Exchange (HIE), is tasked with enhancing the health and well-being of Connecticut residents by providing health information technology services. Connie is developing a series of Use Cases to demonstrate the utility of HIE to providers. Provider recruitment and establishing connections are vital to the sustainability of the state’s HIE. To encourage dentists' participation in the HIE, Connie engaged the Health Interoperability, Innovation & Learning (HIIL) team at UConn Health to conduct an environmental scan to aid in developing a dental-specific use case.

Beginning in October 2022, UConn Health initiated a landscape analysis of the current state of dental health information exchange. The complete analysis will include a literature scan, survey, key informant interviews, and a review of other HIE organizations.

Telehealth – March 31, 2023

Pursuant to §41 of Public Act 22-81, the Office of Health Strategy (OHS) was required to conduct a study and report findings on: (1) the feasibility and impact of expanding access to telehealth services, telehealth providers and coverage for telehealth services in this state beginning on July 1, 2024, and (2) any means available to reduce or eliminate obstacles to patient access to telehealth services, telehealth providers, and coverage for telehealth services in this state, including, but not limited to, any means available to reduce patient costs for telehealth services and coverage for telehealth services in this state. Our research team along with the UConn Center for mHealth and Social Media created a report to address the above requirements by holding key informant interviews with patients and providers who use telehealth, a survey to providers and patients, a literature research, current and future national policies, and a set of recommendations.

Developing a Quality Measures Program: Recommendations on Primary Care Quality Measures and Formatting Prepared by: Agresta, T. MD, MBI, Meehan T. MD, MPH, Rusnak, R. MPA. Submitted to the Office of Health Strategy on October 26th, 2020.

At the direction of Connecticut’s Office of Health Strategy this Primary Care Clinical Quality Measures and Formatting Report has been produced by the UConn Health team to identify a preferred set of primary care Quality Measures (QMs); and best practices in formatting healthcare quality reports for different stakeholders. The information and recommendations in the report are based on targeted reviews of peer-reviewed medical literature and websites of professional organizations that endorse, develop, or utilize QMs, as well as telephone conversations with representatives of the American College of Medical Quality and the National Quality Forum.

An Evaluation of Telemedicine Opportunities Prepared by: Agresta, T. MD, MBI, Rusnak, R. MPA, Tran, R. MHS, Burke, R. MS. Submitted to the Office of Health Strategy on December 8th, 2020.

This University of Connecticut team was tasked with an analysis of Telemedicine platforms. The review sought to understand each platform and their associated offering, specifications, integration capabilities, business plan and potential opportunities to engage with the State’s Health Information Exchange (HIA Inc/ConnIE). This report outlines the information that was gathered through a landscape analysis, which consisted of web-based research, independent product testing, product demonstrations, and interviews with product representatives as well as with current customers.

The Development of a Medication Reconciliation Application Prepared by: Agresta, T. MD, MBI, Demurjian, S. PhD, Sanzi, E. PhD, Tran, R. MHS, Rusnak, R. MPA. Submitted to the Office of Health Strategy on October 13th, 2020.

Armed with the experience and recommendations of the Medication Reconciliation and Polypharmacy Workgroup, the results of the Hackathon, and insights from the Medication Reconciliation Polypharmacy Committee, the project team sought to demonstrate how automated medication reconciliation has the potential to reduce medical mistakes and improve patient outcomes.

Report on Medication Reconciliation Hackathon Prepared by: Agresta, T. MD, MBI, Smith, P. MD, Hayden, K. MPH. Submitted to the Office of Health Strategy on June 20th, 2019.

UConn Health, as an advisor to OHS on HIE efforts, co-sponsored a Medication Reconciliation Hackathon
on Friday, April 5th and Saturday, April 6th, 2019 at the UConn Health Academic Building in Farmington. This report describes the work done from the 2-day hackathon.