Washington, D.C.-based DirectTrust, the three-year-old non-profit trade alliance that advances secure, health information exchange via the Direct Protocol, reports there were nearly 24 million Direct exchange transactions in the second quarter of 2016, a 79 percent increase over the same period a year ago.
In a press release, DirectTrust announced that the number of Direct exchange users, addresses and transactions continues to grow steadily .According to end of second quarter 2016 metrics, the number of health care organizations served by DirectTrust health information service providers (HISPs) and engaged in Direct exchange increased 40 percent to more than 59,000, compared with the same time last year, the organization stated in a press release.
The number of trusted Direct addresses able to share PHI grew 49 percent to nearly 1.3 million at the end of Q2 2016. Direct's nationwide network now includes 44 EHNAC-DirectTrust accredited HISPs.
“The data demonstrate that Direct messaging continues to replace fax and mail transactions for secure, interoperable electronic transport of personal health information,” David C. Kibbe, M.D., president and CEO of DirectTrust, said in a statement. “The network is demonstrating its reliability and cost-effectiveness for moving data of many types—including structured CCDAs, PDF, Word, and image files—across the boundaries of organizations and health IT systems' from different vendors.”
Also in the second quarter of 2016, two healthcare organizations joined DirectTrust—cybersecurity vendor DarkMatter and health insurance company Anthem. These additions bring DirectTrust's total membership to 142 organizations.
DarkMatter, a full-service international cybersecurity company based in the United Arab Emirates and Canada, provides secure trusted and integrated protection services. Anthem, Inc., a U.S. health insurance company, is the largest for-profit managed health care company in the country, and is the parent organization for 36 Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association organizations and companies in 14 states.
DirectTrust is a health care industry alliance created by and for participants in the Direct exchange network used for secure, interoperable exchange of personal health information (PHI) between provider organizations, and between provider and patients, for the purpose of improved coordination of care.
