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Health Information Exchange |
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eHealth Initiative Releases Results of 2007 Survey on
Health Information Exchange
Other Topics:
Wireless Cardiac Monitoring Devices,
Bahamian Telemedicine,
Health Information Exchange
eHealth Initiative
December 30, 2007
Trends show advancement in a small number of markets, but
action needed to support U.S. health information exchange
sustainability now more than ever
Washington, DC -- Today, the multi-stakeholder non-profit
eHealth Initiative (eHI) released the results of its 2007 Fourth
Annual Survey of Health Information Exchange at the State,
Regional and Community Levels, taking stock of 130
community-based efforts designed to improve health and
healthcare through the mobilization of health information
electronically. |
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The
2007 survey results indicate that at least 125 communities
across the U.S. are continuing to bring together multiple
stakeholders to focus on the secure exchange of health data to
improve health and healthcare for patients. Increasingly, such
efforts are involving all stakeholders within the system,
including clinicians, community health centers, consumers,
employers, health plans, hospitals, laboratories, pharmacies,
public health agencies, and government.
Twenty of the 130 initiatives included in the 2007 survey are
just getting started, 68 are in the process of implementation,
32 are operational, five are no longer moving forward, and five
did not respond to the survey question regarding stage of
development.
As in 2006, and consistent with findings from eHI's June 2007
report, Health Information Exchange: From Start-up to
Sustainability, the most difficult challenge for health
information exchange efforts is the development of a sustainable
business model. This was identified as a very difficult
challenge by 56 percent of 2007 survey respondents and a
moderately difficult challenge by 35 percent of respondents. One
of the primary reasons that health information exchange
sustainability has been such a difficult issue for national and
local leaders is that the current reimbursement system, which
largely rewards both volume and fragmentation, serves as a
disincentive for sharing health information across healthcare
stakeholders.
Despite difficulties with achieving sustainability, the 2007
survey report indicates that at least 32 health information
exchange initiatives across the U.S. have made progress,
identifying themselves as "operational" or "transmitting data
that is used by stakeholders," as compared to the 26 initiatives
which identified themselves as operational in 2006. The
operational health information exchange initiatives identified
by the survey are actively exchanging data including outpatient
episodes (84%), laboratory results (73%), inpatient episodes
(64%), and radiology results (63%). Three quarters of
operational health information exchange initiatives are
"delivering results" (such as laboratory results) as a service
to their customers and 63 percent are providing "clinical
documentation" services. In addition more than one fourth of
such initiatives are offering services that are designed to
improve population health, including disease or chronic care
management services (32%), quality improvement reporting for
clinicians or purchasers/payers (29% and 26% respectively), and
providing laboratory results reporting for public health
agencies (28%).
While one-half of advanced stage, operational initiatives
received up-front funding from the federal government, many are
now receiving ongoing revenues to support operations from
non-governmental sources including hospitals (58%), private
payers (46%), physician practices (46%) and laboratories (33%),
and three-quarters of such initiatives are no longer dependent
on grants to support their sustainability.
For the first time since the survey was conducted, the
government was not cited as the top provider of up-front funding
for all health information exchange initiatives. According to
the 2007 survey, 53 percent of all initiatives received start-up
funding from hospitals, while 44 percent received start-up
funding from federal grants and contracts and 43 percent
received funding from state agencies. One third of all
initiatives have received start-up funding from private payers.
The eHealth Initiative began both tracking and supporting the
efforts of multi-stakeholder efforts at the community level in
2003, recognizing the importance of not only national
leadership, but also leadership at the local levels -- where
care is delivered.
"The role of local efforts is critical in improving the quality
and safety of healthcare in the U.S.," said Janet Marchibroda,
chief executive officer of the eHealth Initiative. "In addition
to national focus on both standards and financing to address
sustainability, both leadership and collaboration among multiple
stakeholders at the community level is needed, to build social
capital for information sharing, share the costs of an
infrastructure that benefits everyone, and facilitate the flow
of the clinical information needed for care delivery -- much of
which resides locally."
Detailed survey results can be found at
http://www.ehealthinitiative.org/2007HIESurvey/
About eHealth Initiative and its Foundation
The eHealth Initiative and its Foundation are independent,
non-profit affiliated organizations whose missions are the same:
to drive improvements in the quality, safety, and efficiency of
healthcare through information and information technology.
eHI engages multiple
stakeholders, including clinicians, consumer and patient groups,
employers, health plans, health IT suppliers, hospitals and
other providers, laboratories, pharmaceutical and medical device
manufacturers, pharmacies, public health, public sector
agencies, and its growing coalition of more than 200 state,
regional and community-based collaboratives, to reach agreement
on and drive the adoption of common principles, policies and
best practices for improving the quality, safety and
effectiveness of healthcare through information and information
technology. For more information, go to
http://www.ehealthinitiative.org. |
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