Report: HIE Landscape Growing, Becoming More Sustainable

The eHealth Initiative has identified and collected information on 234 active health information exchange initiatives (HIEs) in the country in its annual survey. Of the 234 known initiatives, 199 groups responded to and qualified for inclusion in the 2010 Annual Survey on Health Information Exchange. This year, there has been significant expansion in the field with the creation of 56 state designated entities (SDE). eHeaIth Initiative made a concerted effort to include these entities in the survey; it should be noted that 48 of the 56 SDEs completed the 2010 survey.

Highlights from the report:

• There is continued growth in the number of health information exchange initiatives, from 57 in 2009, up to 73 operational initiatives.
• There is a small but critical mass of sustainable organizations. Of the surveyed organizations, 107 initiatives were not dependent on federal funding, up from 71 in 2009. Eighteen initiatives are operational and not dependent on federal funding, and have broken even through operational revenue alone.
• Health information exchange initiatives do not have to have a financial relationship with or partially own the organizations involved in order to become sustainable. Of the 73 operational initiatives, 44 have no financial relationship with the entities involved in the initiative. Seven of the 18 sustainable initiatives have no financial relationship with the organizations involved in the initiative.