For All The Negative Commentary The US Is Making Real Progress With Health Information Exchange And Sharing.

This appeared last week:

70% of Hospitals Participated in Nationwide HIE Networks in 2017

A new ONC data brief offers insight into the state of HIE adoption, health data exchange, and interoperability among acute care hospitals.

By Kate Monica

December 20, 2018 - About 70 percent of acute care hospitals participated in at least one health information exchange (HIE) network with nationwide scope in 2017, according to a new ONC data brief evaluating methods used to enable interoperability among non-federal acute care hospitals.

ONC used data from a nationally representative 2017 American Hospital Association (AHA) IT Supplement survey to identify methods hospitals use to exchange summary of care records. The federal agency also offered insight into hospitals’ rates of participation in HIE networks and variations in the ways hospitals share data.

“Hospitals’ electronic exchange of information is a complex process involving a variety of methods,” wrote report authors. “Although a majority of hospitals used more than one electronic method to send and receive summary of care records, most hospitals still used both paper-based and electronic methods.”

According to 2017 data, about 78 percent of hospitals used more than one method to electronically and routinely send summary of care records, while 61 percent routinely received summary of care records electronically.

“Hospitals that used more electronic methods to routinely receive summary of care records were more likely to have patient health information electronically available at the point of care and subsequently use this information for decision-making,” noted ONC.

ONC also found hospitals commonly used health information service providers (HISPs) to share summary of care records. About half of hospitals participated in both a national and state, regional, or local health information organization (HIO).

“Overall, hospital participation in health information networks was sizable,” wrote the federal agency.

About 60 percent of surveyed hospitals participated in Surescripts, while about a quarter of all hospitals participated in e-Health Exchange. Similarly, nearly 25 percent of surveyed hospitals participated in DirectTrust.

Fourteen percent of surveyed hospitals participated in CommonWell in 2017, while only 8 percent utilized Carequality.

Over 90 percent of hospitals that used six or more methods to electronically receive summary of care records had patient health information available at the point of care and used this data for clinical decision-making.

Lots more here:

https://ehrintelligence.com/news/70-of-hospitals-participated-in-nationwide-hie-networks-in-2017

So, in the US today, a lot of useful clinical information is moving around electronically and apparently making a difference.

I am not sure we are going to be able to say that about the #myHealthRecord anytime soon.

David.