Uphill battle for ACOs pursuing HIT interoperability

While many accountable care organizations (ACOs) are realizing the benefits of health IT, they continue to struggle with poor interoperability across systems, according to a survey jointly conducted by Premier and the eHealth Initiative.

In a survey of 62 ACOs, which took place in July and August 2014, 100 percent of respondents indicated that access to data from external organizations was challenging.

In other findings, 88 percent of the ACOs face significant obstacles in integrating data from disparate sources, and 83 percent reported challenges integrating technology analytics into workflow. As ACOs begin collecting data from more sources, they also reported concerns about interoperability and data management.

Meanwhile, 90 percent of organizations cited the high costs and ROI of health IT as a major barrier to further implementations.  

“While accountable care organizations are providing quality care for many patients, even more could be accomplished if interoperability issues were addressed. However, the cost of interoperability can be prohibitive for many organizations,” said Jennifer Covich Bordenick, CEO, eHealth Initiative, in a statement.

Despite barriers in interoperability, ACOs did report health IT-related improvements, including clinical quality (66 percent); preventive screenings and vaccinations (63 percent); chronic disease management (59 percent); and health outcomes (55 percent).