Managed Healthcare Executive - December 2008 - (Page 22)

{ TECHNOLOGY } HIEs starting to prove they can share data and save money The technology is functioning, but now it’s time to prove the bene ts are worth the ongoing investment BY JAMIE J. GOOCH on the communities they serve. The survey included responses from 130 community-based initiatives and indicated that 69% of the fully operational HIEs reduced costs. Respondents reported that HIEs (also known as RHIOs) decrease redundant tests, reduce the number of admissions for adverse drug events, decrease costs for chronic care patients and reduce administration. But creating an IT system and procedures to gather, protect and share information isn’t cheap. BENEFITS REALIZED Todd Pearson/Digital Vision/Getty Images W Jamie J. Gooch is a Cleveland-based freelance writer. 22 DECEMBER 2008 With states and private organizations looking for ways to improve healthcare, millions of dollars in startup money for HIEs has become available. Exchanges have proven they can get over the initial technological hurdles of collecting data from disparate systems, mapping it and securely presenting it to participants in an easy-to-digest format. But the question remains: How can HIEs sustain themselves nancially? “In all honesty, that’s the biggest challenge for RHIOs,” says John Hopkins, ITH AN ELECTION YEAR winding CEO of Rocky Mountain Health Plans down, many eyes are on Washington to in Colorado. In 2004, the company used see what changes are ahead for healthcare. $2.5 million won in a lawsuit to create the Organizers of health information exchanges (HIEs) Quality Health Network RHIO. will no doubt be among the most anxious to see if “At this point, we have the least bene t President-elect Barack Obama can make good on from the exchange,” Hopkins says. “Hoshis promise of spending $50 billion on electronic pitals and physicians see direct bene ts. health records. We’re involved, quite frankly, because we By sharing electronic health records, HIEs elim- think the bene ts will be there in the inate redundancies and save time, which in turn long run. [Providers’] being able to acprovides better healthcare to patients. According cess information electronically indirectly to the eHealth Initiative’s Fifth Annual Survey bene ts the health plan in terms of cost of Health Information Exchange at the State and savings. We think that ultimately this will Local Levels, HIEs are having a signi cant impact improve our system and care.”

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Managed Healthcare Executive - December 2008 For Your Benefit Editorial Advisors Contents News Analysis Politics & Policy Letter of the Law Puerto Rico’s PLAN State Report Bundled Payment Technology Drug Class Overview Managed Care Outlook Desktop Resource Ad/Edit Index

Managed Healthcare Executive - December 2008

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