HIE: One step forward, two steps back?

Beth Walsh, Editor, CMIO

Health information exchange (HIE) continues its onward march toward true interoperability, despite the occasional setback. For every step forward, it seems we take one or two back due to slow physician adoption of health IT and other challenges.

Most notably, Republican governor of Wisconsin, Scott Walker, turned down $37 million from the federal government that had been awarded to help implement healthcare insurance exchange. The announcement comes after Walker declared in December that Wisconsin would not pursue implementing the exchange until the U.S. Supreme Court rules on the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

A survey of more than 3,700 physicians in eight countries found that, while physicians agreed on the top benefits of health IT, some, particularly those over age 50, are not actively using health IT. U.S. physicians are generally less positive about the benefits of EMR and HIE than their international colleagues.

Another survey of more than 200 healthcare executives found that, despite concerns, there was an overall positive opinion regarding the benefits of HIEs with 70 percent reporting that they felt positively about HIEs. While 64 percent of respondents said that the CIO was responsible for HIE development within their organization, 46 percent reported that their organization did not have a department or oversight group to oversee the initiative.

On the positive side, efforts to encourage provider use and understanding of health IT options continue. For example, the American Medical Association has released three online video tutorials, the first of a series, to help physician practices through health IT implementation processes. These first videos focus on developing efficient workflows for e-prescribing, previsit planning and point-of-care documentation.

Behind-the-scenes efforts continue as well. The Health Information Trust Alliance (HITRUST) has released version 4.0 of the HITRUST Common Security Framework (CSF) and an updated version of the CSF Assurance Program, which includes changes pertaining to the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s (NIST) 800-53 revision 3.

Updates have been made to the CSF Assurance Program so that the program's components accurately reflect both regulatory and market dynamics. Twelve controls were added and one removed from the controls required for certification under the 2012 CSF Assurance Program.

Is your organization taking steps toward exchanging health information? What pros and cons are you experiencing? We’d love to hear about it.

Beth Walsh, CMIO Editor
bwalsh@trimedmedia.com