Health Information Exchange (HIE) is used as a verb and a noun. As a verb it is the electronic transmission of healthcare-related data among facilities, health information organizations (HIOs) and government agencies; as a noun it is used interchangeably with HIO to mean an organization that transmits health data. The goal of HIE is secure universal transmission of individual health data to improve health care delivery and make it more efficient. See the entry on health information organization (HIO) for an explanation of that term.