The Washington, D.C.-based National eHealth Collaborative (NeHC) released the results of the 2012 NeHC Stakeholder Survey, featuring responses related to health information exchange (HIE), consumer engagement, and other NeHC programs.
Coming on the heels of the release of the proposed rule for meaningful use Stage 2, survey results provide insights into stakeholder perceptions related to barriers to HIE and the importance of consumer engagement in transforming healthcare, which relate to some of the core measures that physicians and hospitals must meet in order to be eligible for Stage 2 meaningful use incentives.
“It is both interesting and enlightening to understand what stakeholders are thinking related to core strategic priorities for NeHC including education, HIE, and consumer engagement,” NeHC CEO Kate Berry, said in a statement. “This type of information can help inform our programs to ensure we emphasize the areas of greatest need to encourage progress toward widespread deployment of HIT and HIE to improve patient care.”
Highlights from the survey are included below:
- “What are the most important benefits of health information exchange?” (Respondents were asked to select three)
- 73% - Better care coordination
- 65% - Providers and patients have the right information available when needed
- 39% - Improved efficiency
- 37% - Improved quality
- “What are the biggest challenges to achieving widespread health information exchange?” (Respondents were asked to select three)
- 61% - Funding and sustainability
- 53% - Interoperability standards
- 46% - Provider adoption
- 46% - Disparate electronic medical record systems
- 34% - Privacy and security
- “What Health IT topics are of greatest interest to you?”
(Respondents were asked to select all that apply)- 60% - Interoperability standards
- 57% - Meaningful use
- 51% - Examples of HIE
- 49% - Health IT policy updates
- 49% - Healthcare reform
- 44% - Privacy and security
