Study: More providers joining HIEs

While the process is slow, it appears that more healthcare providers are gradually linking up with health information exchanges, according to a new study released by IDC-HII. For example, 15 percent of hospital respondents to one IDC-HII survey said they were participating in an HIE, and 35 percent more said they were in active discussions to do so. Meanwhile, in a February 2008 IDC-HII poll of community hospital CIOs, 22.7 percent said their health system was participating in an HIE, 18.2 percent planned to do so within less than a year, and 27.3 percent were considering the HIE option. One side note was that 33 percent of the CIOs who were involved in an HIE said they were part of a "proprietary HIE," one tied to a sponsor such as an integrated delivery network. To me, this suggests that while HIE penetration may be growing, the national health information network remains painfully far from being realized.

To learn more about IDI-HII's research:
- read this Healthcare IT News piece

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