Whitepaper offers solutions for HIE challenges

The National eHealth Collaborative's (NeHC) Health Information Exchange (HIE) Learning Network presented findings and recommendations from its work developing solutions for the most challenging HIE issues. 

The recommendations included in the HIE Learning Network workgroups’ culmination whitepapers, collectively titled "Following the NeHC HIE Roadmap: Four Routes to Success," are the result of five months of collaborative work by a group of over 450 stakeholders. Each NeHC HIE Learning Network whitepaper documents the workgroup’s process, landscape, research analysis, conclusions, recommendations and case study examples.

Highlights from the papers include:

• A formula for achieving multi-stakeholder HIE financial sustainability, including a projection that $7.5 million in annual revenue is needed to maintain long-term financial stability
• A critique of the current interoperability standards and certification ecosystem, with a proposal for measuring progress
• Two strategies for addressing community-level HIE needs, including identification of multiple high value/low cost services
• Success factors for HIE initiatives positioning for success in a value-based environment

“Health information exchange is difficult. Our HIE Learning Network workgroups have done a fantastic job of coming up with best practices and recommended strategies to overcome some of the toughest HIE challenges,” said NeHC's CEO Kate Berry. 

Each workgroup of the NeHC Learning Network studied its problem and the impacted landscape, collectively applied their knowledge and experiences, and developed findings and recommendations to address HIE challenges and help accelerate progress for HIE stakeholders.

Each HIE Learning Network workgroup approached the issue of successful and sustainable HIE from a different perspective, but the following key themes emerged:

• Consistent implementation of interoperability standards is fundamental to achieving widespread HIE
• Leveraging lightweight and flexible technologies and readily available data sets will jumpstart exchange and build momentum on which to expand
• Achieving early value builds trust among participants and will help drive growth; this requires open, transparent governance so competitors will share information
• Implementing high value bundles of HIE services will help drive adoption and position for sustainability
• Reaching critical mass of connected providers and data sources is key to a compelling value proposition
• Understanding and responding to your customers’ needs on an ongoing basis such that you offer products and services that solve their problems will help ensure they are willing to pay for those products and services
• HIE organizations that provide business intelligence and data analytics to support actionable, effective clinical decision making to improve quality and cost outcomes can play a powerful role as healthcare transitions to pay-for-value

Access the complete whitepaper.