Healthcare IT News - May 2008 - (Page 6)

Healthcare IT News ■ May 2008 industry news www.HealthcareITNews.com Survey: Healthcare data exchanges are growing By PaTTy enraDo, Contributing Editor ORE HEALTHCARE PROVIDERS are joining health information exchanges, according to new data released by IDC-HII. The results are “directionally encouraging,” according to Marc Holland, program director of provider research for Health Industry Insights (HII). “Some form of HIE is high on the radar screens of hospital m CIOs,” he said. “Fifteen percent of hospital respondents to IDC-HII’s Leading Indicators Survey Q3 2007 indicated they were already participating in an HIE, while 35 percent noted they were in active discussions.” In a February 2008 IDC-HII straw poll of community hospital CIOs, 22.7 percent said their healthcare system was participating in an HIE, 18.2 percent were not participating but expected to in less than a year, and 27.3 percent were not currently participating but were evaluating HIE participation. Thirty-three percent of community hospital CIOs are participating in a proprietary HIE, which is an HIE that is part of an integrated delivery network, or closely tied to a sponsor versus an HIE that involves multi-stakeholders. Twenty-five percent said they expect to participate in a proprietary HIE within one year. “The rate of progress is rapidly increasing, but it’s taking a proprietary bent,” Holland said. With interest on the upswing, Holland predicted: ■ Organic growth, from the bottom up; ■ Absent more active government participation and funding, progress will be slower than antici- “some form of Hie is HigH on tHe rAdAr screens of hospital cios.” – Marc Holland pated; ■ Complexity, privacy and confidentiality issues remain key challenges; and ■ Proprietary HIEs will surpass community-based regional health information organizations as the dominant model for exchange. Holland noted a number of operating HIEs are successful. The common characteristics, he said, are those that were formed as a grassroots effort, driven by strong, commonly held community goals or the dominance of a single provider. “Successful models will serve as ‘EMR-lite’ offerings,” he said, which would allow providers who can’t afford an electronic medical records system to participate through technologies that enable connectivity. Holland pointed out that Axolotl’s system, which provides secure messaging of clinical data, is such a tool. There is “real value” in hospital connectivity, Holland emphasized. All hospitals have voluntary attending physicians who need access to, but do not have, both hospital and their own office information. “There is a need for incorporating information in the most convenient setting,” he said. “They need information to be convenient, consistent and readily available.” ■ More at HealthcareITnews.com e Connect: HIeS 0508 ● InfeCTIons Continued from page 3 had not provided leadership on this front. “The failure of HHS leadership is particularly regrettable,” Waxman said, because these illnesses, deaths and costs are preventable. Moreover the preventive measures don’t require new technologies or large investments.” In a letter to the GAO, federal officials noted that HHS said they are improving data collection and sharing. According to the GAO, multiple HHS programs collect data on infections, “but limitations in the scope of the information they collect and the lack of integration across the databases maintained by these separate programs constrain the utility of the data.” “In order to help reduce HAIs in hospitals, we are calling for stronger leadership for HHS by recommending the Secretary of HHS take action to prioritize prevention practices and improve data about HAIs,” GAO stated in the report. ■ More at HealthcareITnews.com e Connect: INFeCtIoNS 0508 ● e ● Connect: MIe 0508 http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://HealthcareITnews.com http://www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=9155 http://www.mieweb.com http://HealthcareITnews.com http://www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=9148 http://www.mieweb.com http://www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=9194

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Healthcare IT News - May 2008 Contents Help Wanted Speeding Up Government Silos Privacy Pressures Tracking Disease Rah Rah Health! TriZetto Suit Outcomes Watch Ambulatory EHRs

Healthcare IT News - May 2008

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