The Orem, Utah-based research firm, KLAS has released a report stating that while providers are weighing various priorities including meaningful use, ICD-10, RAC audits, and accountable care models, HIEs are still of high interest. In the report, HIE Perception 2011: Public or Private?, KLAS interviewed 96 healthcare executives to uncover which HIE vendors were selected in 2011 and why.
Mark Allphin, in a statement, says KLAS found there was no one-size-fits-all HIE vendor. With each provider choosing based on their own needs, no single vendor had risen to the top last year. Public HIE vendors, Axolotl, InterSystems, Medicity, and Orion Health, had the most business while Cerner, dbMotion, Epic, Medicity, and RelayHealth, had the majority of private HIE business.
Providers chose their HIE based on affordability (42 precent), integration experience (42 percent), ease-of-use (31 percent), their existing relationship with the vendor (28 percent), the HIE is part of the EMR vendor’s product suite (18 percent), they’re part of a local or state HIE (15 percent), peer recommendation (11 percent), add-ons (eight percent) and other (28 percent).
“Other” includes data security, vendor willing to work with others, company integrity, leadership and experience, sustainability, functionality, proven ability, offerings of hospital partners, analysis from other hospitals, vendor understanding, PHR, regional interest, flexibility, waiting on other sites, technology, and be in compliance.
KLAS says providers were equally split between selecting a public and private model. However, for some providers, private models beat out public HIEs because of better data control and funding sustainability. Also, the report says private HIEs typically go live faster than public options, but need heavier integration and interfacing.
