More thorough studies are needed to determine the effect health data exchange has on clinical outcomes, according to a study published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research.

For the study, researchers from Oregon Health & Science University, the University of Washington-Seattle and the Department of Veterans Affairs' Maine Healthcare System reviewed studies of health data exchange in clinical or public health settings with publication dates between January 1990 and February 2015.

The researchers identified 34 studies that looked at health data exchange outcomes and noted that most of the studies were "retrospective cohorts," where the exchanges focused on one specific outcome; or surveys that examined perceived outcomes.

The studies did not include findings on clinical outcomes, such as mortality or morbidity, or potential issues caused by health data exchange.

That evidence is "low quality" because the studies were retrospective and limited in the scope of their questioning, according to the authors. "None of the studies analyzed individual episodes of care to determine clinical appropriateness of possible changes brought about by [health data exchange] use," they wrote.

The researchers recommended that future studies: adopt a standard for describing types of health data exchange; ask more comprehensive questions; and be more rigorously designed.