To the Editor:
The feature article in your January issue, “Community-Based Information Exchange,” while a nice attempt to offer readers a primer on HIE models and functionality-contains a fundamentally inaccurate categorization of Medicity. We can only assume this is either attributable to typographical error or a surprising level of unfamiliarity with Medicity.
Medicity has earned a solid reputation as the industry standard for HIE based on real-world results-providing our clients with the highest level of interoperability and bidirectional communication. One needs only to look at established industry analysts or research firms such as IDC Health Insights or KLAS, respectively, for an accurate and unbiased view of Medicity, as well as other HIE vendor systems and capabilities.
Over the past 10 years, Medicity has worked in close collaboration with its clients to develop a flexible and innovative platform with a patented architecture for health information exchange. In fact, we launched the Delaware Health Information Network (DHIN), the first operational statewide clinical HIE in the U.S. Today, we have the largest network of connected providers, spanning 760 hospitals and 250,000 providers nationwide.
We are compelled to caution your readers to separate opinion from fact when reading the article and take it with a grain of salt-and maybe even a margarita if they are so inclined. And we remain confident that providers rely on the proven and established processes of evaluating and selecting an HIE vendor based on capabilities, checking sources, facts, and references.
Sincerely,
Brent Dover
President, Medicity
Healthcare Informatics 2011 March;28(3):6
