Information exchange activity increasing, according to AHA/ONC survey

Almost one-quarter (23 percent) of hospitals are finding, sending, receiving and using data electronically and those that do all four activities are nine times more likely to report they have information available at the point of care compared to those who report doing none of those activities.

That was one of the findings from the American Hospital Association and Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT’s (ONC) survey, said Vaishali Patel, PhD, senior advisor at the ONC, speaking during the August meeting of the federal Health IT Policy Committee.

About half of hospitals receive summary of care records electronically, she said, and about 40 percent have the ability to use and integrate those summaries without any manual entry lag. About half of hospitals report that their providers engage in electronically finding or querying their patients’ information.

As hospitals engage more, Patel said the amount of information available significantly increases with each additional activity.

The survey also examined the technical, operational and financial barriers to interoperability. The top barrier, Patel said, was the lack of exchange partners with the capability to electronically receive information. Another common technical barrier is the cumbersome workflow to send information from their EHR system. And, more than one-quarter said that recipients don’t find the information useful. One-quarter also said that the additional cost involved is a barrier.

Patel also provided an update on the draft interoperability measurement framework, saying the measurements need to be expanded to reflect longer term goals like the processes enabled by interoperability and outcomes sensitive to interoperability.

“The key aspect to the long-term framework is to flesh out and identify processes.”

In the near-term, Patel said the goal is to focus on the movement of health information across the care continuum and individuals; identifying the barriers impeding interoperability; and increasing the availability of information and its subsequent usage.

The group plans to report on baseline levels of interoperability and exchange in the next few months, Patel said, and share updates to the measurement framework when the roadmap is published later this year.