The real value of HIEs
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| Mary Stevens, Editor, CMIO magazine |
Their key insights from the survey results were that there is a place for community-based HIEs, alongside statewide efforts and private initiatives, particularly if community-based entities can gather and exchange the population-level data that accountable care organizations will require.
The number of value-added services is growing much faster than the number of HIEs being added, Kolkman said. This shows that innovation is being rewarded and HIEs are paying attention to what they need to do to be sustainable. “Services can be a quick win when it comes to developing a revenue stream,” she said. These might incude personal health records or coding and billing services.
To achieve sustainability by adding value, HIEs must take critical steps. Hull-Brown advised:
1.) Engage stakeholders early and keep lines of communication open, because they can tell you what governance models, system architecture and services are needed for success.
2.) Identify the data that are critical to providing those services, and figure out the fastest way to get those data. Identifying the value of an HIE is one of the fundamental challenges.
A question from the audience framed the value question in a wider way: “If HIEs had real value, wouldn’t a utility model have prevailed? Why has it not?”
The panelists’ answer: The value of HIE—better patient care—is well recognized among healthcare providers and payors; it’s the transition that’s difficult. There isn’t a CEO, COO, heath plan or provider at any organization that doesn’t know HIE is the right thing to do, but they’re stuck in that they don’t benefit financially in the HIE world until they’ve done their healthcare transformation, and are delivering healthcare in a different way. To do that, there’s a transition period where you have to let go of the old way of doing things and lose money in the process, and you have to build a business case so that while you’re losing money in one area, you’re making money in a different place. It’s going to be a painful transition.
Part of the problem is that in healthcare, value does not necessarily equal a dollar return on investment. Hopefully, U.S. healthcare is in a transition from misaligned incentives to more aligned ones because right now they don’t match, the panelists said. This may be why definining the value is still a challenge.
What services would you look for in an HIE? Tell me at mstevens@trimedmedia.com.
Mary Stevens, Editor