Exchange underlies all IT efforts

The focus over the past month has been more on health IT and EHRs, not information exchange, but of course exchange underlies all other efforts.

“It’s just remarkable to look back at where we were four years ago and take stock as measured through these meetings how far we’ve come and the complexity of the policy issues we’ve had to consider to reach our goals,” reflected Farzad Mostashari, MD, ScM, national coordinator for health IT, during the July 9 Health IT Policy Committee meeting—the 50th meeting to date.

Looking to the future, Mostashari said there is much work ahead in pushing the boundaries of interoperability and exchange, enabling the coordination of care and “making sure we look and learn from data, to see what is working, learn of emerging trends and issues and where to adapt policies.”

With the “daunting tasks” ahead of handling interoperability issues and a cultural change in the practice of medicine, he said now is the time to “listen and adapt.”

Meanwhile, of 800 physician groups, 46 percent plan to join a health information exchange, according to a HIMSS Analytics industry report, “5th Annual U.S. Ambulatory EHR & Practice Management Study,” published by CapSite.

Overall, the industry report examines views on market adoption, market share, market opportunity and vendor mind share across the physician market while incorporating HIMSS Analytics data for a larger picture of the ambulatory EHR and practice management marketplace, according to a release.

What has been your experience with information exchange? Is your organization benefiting from information exchange yet? Please share your experience.

Beth Walsh

Clinical Innovation + Technology editor