In 2013, only 33% of multi-provider networks and hospital systems were considering investing in a private HIE to standardize the sharing of patient data. This year, that number has jumped to 72%, according to a new survey from Black Book.
Yet despite this industry-wide belief that HIEs are part of the path to data-sharing, "persistent unpredictability" is the best way to describe the current technological environment—at least, so says 86% of healthcare providers (and 81% of vendors). Despite the ONC's recent 10-year road map for interoperability, many providers are backing away from investing in HIEs because of that uncertainty. The vast majority (90% of hospitals and 94% of independent physicians) don't trust the business model of public HIEs, or they're waiting to see how much of the cost payers will be fronting.
As a result, the public HIE market is contracting and the majority of stakeholders, from providers to payers, believe that most small, independent HIEs won't survive the next two years. HIEs operated by major players will be the only ones to stand up to a tough marketplace, according to the Black Book results.
"A short list of enterprise HIE vendors have effectively established operative exchanges across organizational siloes to benefit patients, providers, agencies and payers," according to Doug Brown, Managing Partner of the study. "Those vendors are justifiably earning the lion's share of 2015 initiatives and stymied HIE developers are reconsidering their positions."
The poll examined 224 operational exchanges and 67 vendors (public and private) across 20 HIE-specific indicators. Who was the top-performing vendor in each category in 2014?
According to Insurancenewsnet.com, other vendors that scored well in specific HIE performance indicators were: Alere Wellogic, Availity, Caradigm, CTG, dbMotion Allscripts, Epic Systems, Greenway, GSI Healthcare, HealthUnity, ICA, Infor (Lawson), McKesson RelayHealth, Medecision, Optuminsightt, QSI Mirth NextGen, Sandlot, and Siemens.