The number of operational health information exchanges has more than doubled to 228 since last year, and of those, private exchanges have increased more rapidly than public organizations for sharing information, according to researcher KLAS.
Since last year, functioning public HIEs have expanded to 67 from 37, while private-sector HIEs have surged to 161 from 52.
The slower establishment of public health information exchanges (HIE) may be due in part to government oversight and ensuring long-term funding, according to a KLAS announcement July 7.
HIEs enable hospitals, physicians, and clinicians to share patient records in order to coordinate and improve the quality and efficiency of care.
Spurred by the onset of the incentive program for the meaningful use of electronic health records (EHRs) incentive program in the Health and Human Services Department and other elements of healthcare reform, HIEs are now being formed both as private ventures and government-backed initiatives, including the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT, which has funded grants to states to establish HIEs, some of which are being deployed soon in Illinois, Maine, Oregon and other states.
In last year’s study, KLAS found that only a few HIEs were actually operational despite health IT vendors offering it as a technical solution. The HIE market continues to mature since last year, and a number of vendors are beginning to stand out, said Mark Allphin, author of the KLAS report “Health Information Exchanges: Rapid Growth in an Evolving Market.”
"But, most HIEs still have a long way to go before they will be able to start making the positive impact on healthcare that providers and regulators are hoping for,” he said.
The majority of HIEs are building the foundation for what they hope will become robust and meaningful exchange models, Allphin added. Meaningful use will continue to put pressure on providers to make patient information accessible across the continuum of care.
“HIEs will only increase in importance going forward," he said.
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Physicians may also be contributing to the lag in deployment of public HIEs, according to respondents in the KLAS research. Physicians are interested in HIEs, but not if they cause them to lose time searching for or wading through too much patient information. Concerns over data integrity and having outside providers push data into physician's EHRs also contributed to the low adoption of public HIEs.
The complexities that are inherent in government-sponsored initiatives, such as funding, accountability and transparency, and the difficulty of getting competing healthcare organizations to agree on what to information to share have affected physician acceptance of public HIEs, KLAS said. Private-sector HIEs do not depend on public funds or government oversight.
KLAS evaluated 35 HIE vendors, with Medicity, RelayHealth, and Cerner ranking highest in its performance scores.
