Select States See "Considerable" HIE Growth

By Katie Wike, contributing writer

Some states are excelling at HIE adoption, propelling the national adoption rate forward.

According to NORC at the University of Chicago, health information exchanges (HIEs) have seen considerable growth, but only in a few states. Fierce Health IT reports these select states are driving the national average up, thereby causing HIEs to look more successful nationwide than they really are.

“In the second quarter of 2012 Indiana, Colorado, and New York accounted for more than 85 percent of transactions,” they explain, “while in Q3 of 2013, Michigan, Colorado, Indiana, New York, and Vermont accounted for more than 85 percent of the total.”

Healthcare Dive writes the report also found directed transactions increased three-fold and patient record queries increased more than fourfold between 2011 and 2013.

The NORC report also reveals the fact that states saw an increase from 44 to 72 percent in the number of physicians using an EHR to e-prescribe between 2011 and 2014. Barriers preventing growth were identified as:

• intensive need for money and time
• barriers in relationships with electronic health record vendors and HIE vendors
• sustainability

“Throughout the program, grantees overcame many challenges to HIE, and new challenges emerged in the process. Some states were more successful than others in navigating these challenges and in enabling exchange,” the report’s authors conclude. “Though not all such challenges have been resolved, there is now more HIE capacity than before the program, as well as a path forward toward greater data liquidity for both exchange and interoperability.”