Report: HIE tally jumps 9 percent, to 255

The number of initiatives in the health information exchange (HIE) market has grown by 9 percent from 234 in 2010 to 255 in 2011despite consolidation in the field, according to key findings from an eHealth Initiative report released last week.

Although at least 10 HIE initiatives closed or consolidated in the last year, 46 new respondents completed the 2011 survey, according to “The 2011 Report on HIE: The Changing Landscape."

The Washington, D.C.-based organization reported that 85 initiatives are in the advanced stages of development, up from 73 in 2010. Sustainable HIEs also got a bump: 24 HIEs reported they are sustainable, up from 18 in 2010.

The report also found that initiatives are developing complex privacy controls for patients, even in the absence of new federal requirements. “In 2011, 46 initiatives reported offering opt-out at a data-type level (lab, radiology results, etc.) compared to 13 in 2010 offering opt-in or opt-out. Nine initiatives offer opt-in and 40 offer opt-out at the data field or individual data element level (demographic information).”

In addition to struggling with business models and value, HIE initiatives face new challenges including systems integration. The number of HIEs indicating that technical systems integration was a major or moderate challenge increased from 97 in 2010 to 117 in 2011.

According to the report, the top four types of data exchanged by the advanced initiatives are:

  • Laboratory results for meaningful use Stage 1, exchanged by 64 HIEs;
  • Medication data, exchanged by 56 HIEs;
  • Outpatient lab results for meaningful use Stage 2, and radiology results, exchanged by 54 HIEs.

The top three functionalities provided by advanced HIEs were connectivity to EHRs (60), a master patient index (60) and results delivery (47).

“Advanced initiatives receive revenue from [three] key stakeholder groups, and use multiple revenue models, with membership fees being the most utilized model,” the report stated. “Most advanced initiatives spread their funding over multiple stakeholders, with hospitals, payers and provider practices being the main sources of funding. Sixty-five are dependent upon the federal government for funding, up from 62 in 2010.”

Advanced HIEs now offer more support services and value-add services to clinicians and hospitals, according to the findings. The following services saw major increases from 2010 to 2011:

  • The number of HIEs offering workflow modification guidance for clinicians increased from 35 to 48.
  • Technical assistance for implementation in hospitals increased from 37 HIEs to 42.
  • Providing aggregation of administrative transactions increased from 3 to 23.
  • Providing access to provider and provider related databases increased from 6 to 22.
  • Offering billing services increased from 6 to 22.
  • Providing credentialing services increased from 3 to 18.

One-hundred-thirteen HIE initiatives plan to incorporate the federal Nationwide Health Information Network’s (NwHIN) Direct Project into their service offerings, the report concluded.

Around the web

The tirzepatide shortage that first began in 2022 has been resolved. Drug companies distributing compounded versions of the popular drug now have two to three more months to distribute their remaining supply.

The 24 members of the House Task Force on AI—12 reps from each party—have posted a 253-page report detailing their bipartisan vision for encouraging innovation while minimizing risks. 

Merck sent Hansoh Pharma, a Chinese biopharmaceutical company, an upfront payment of $112 million to license a new investigational GLP-1 receptor agonist. There could be many more payments to come if certain milestones are met.