While a majority of hospital CIOs responding to a recent survey conducted by healthsystemCIO.com say they are participating in regional health or system-to-system information exchange efforts, not all of the respondents have faith in such efforts. In fact, some see such HIEs as a "Band-Aid approach" until interoperability enables more seamless information sharing between providers, according to a healthsystemCIO.com post.
Overall, 58 percent of the 174 respondents say their organizations are currently participating in regional or system-to-system HIE efforts. And 80 percent said integration with outside providers is a top three priority. Close to 21 percent, though, say they are "skeptical" of HIE sustainability, while another 21 percent say that while they are hopeful, they need to see more results before passing judgment.
Despite National Coordinator for Health IT Farzad Mostashari's pronouncement late last month that health information exchange is ready to "take off," efforts nationwide have produced mixed results, at best. Some efforts, such as the Indiana Health Information Exchange have been successful. Others, such as Kingsport, Tenn.-based regional health information organization CareSpark, struggled to stay afloat before ultimately shutting down.
For the CIOs that list electronic provider integration as a priority, only about 17 percent say that they have achieved electronic health record adoption with a "high degree" of success; 20 percent, conversely, say that EHR adoption has been "disappointing," while 58 percent say they've experienced "moderate" success.
The survey results come on the heels of a study published this week in Health Affairs, in which physicians who said they intended to apply for Meaningful Use incentives in 2011 were not prepared to meet the requirements.
To learn more:
- here's the healthsystemCIO.com survey
- read the accompanying post