DirectTrust, the Washington, D.C.-based alliance created by and for participants in the Direct exchange network, has announced that the number of healthcare organizations engaged in the network has now reached 100,000.
The organization also announced the addition of five new members since the beginning of the second quarter. According to end of second quarter 2017 metrics, the number of healthcare organizations served by DirectTrust health information service providers (HISPs) and engaged in Direct exchange increased 68 percent to nearly 100,000, compared with the same period last year. And, the number of trusted Direct addresses able to share personal health information (PHI) grew 15 percent to nearly 1.5 million. There were also 40.1 million Direct exchange transactions in the second quarter of 2017, an increase of 74 percent over the same period last year. The cumulative total of Direct exchange transactions reached more than 241 million at the end of the second quarter.
Direct's nationwide network includes 42 EHNAC-DirectTrust accredited HISPs, 38 Accredited Trust Anchor Bundle HISPs and four Governmental Trust Anchor Bundle HISPs. The alliance is a self-regulatory entity initially created by and for participants in the Direct community, including HIPSs, Certificate Authorities (CAs), Registration Authorities (RAs), doctors, patients and vendors, and supports both provider-to-provider as well as patient-to-provider Direct exchange.
Since April 1, five healthcare organizations have joined DirectTrust bringing the total number of members up to 129. They five new companies are:
- Mirah, Inc. - Mirah is "MBC-as-a-service" for behavioral health practices.
- vitaTrackr, Inc. - vitaTrackr is an organizer of independent health data marketplace that facilitates the movement of health data from point of creation to qualified destinations authorized by the consumer.
- TechSoft, Inc. - TechSoft provides customized practice management and electronic billing solutions to the healthcare industry.
- PatientMD - PatientMD provides a messaging app for patients and doctors.
- Care3, Inc. - Care3 is a developer of digital health technology.
"It is very satisfying to see the demand for Direct grow and to witness the physician and provider community further embracing the use of Direct exchange for secure messaging throughout hospitals and medical practices," DirectTrust President and CEO David. C. Kibbe, M.D., said in a statement. "Additionally, vendors across the health IT industry are increasingly enhancing their usability for Direct, while healthcare providers are broadening their use of Direct beyond clinical messaging to include administrative and research communications."
