Dive Brief:
- In the five years since the HITECH Act created funding for public health information exchanges, the exchanges have grown and matured, but many are not financially independent.
- Public HIEs are desperately looking for business models that will carry them into the future, with a number of public HIEs having already shut down.
- For the near term, it appears that HIEs will continue to need funding from public entities to remain financially viable, observers suggest.
Dive Insight:
HIEs are at a critical period in their growth. While providers do want to share information, it's still not clear what shape that information sharing will take and how the HIEs and participants will pay for it, experts say. Some may become obsolete as regional EHR interoperability improves.
What seems clear is that the demand for the exchange of health data will remain, and play a crucial role for primary care providers, insurers and hospitals in helping them improve the quality of the patient experience. Despite years of struggling to build a sustainable business model, however, it's still not clear how HIEs will provide that service going forward.