While HIE’s are gradually building up a head of steam and making significant strides in a number of areas, there is a dark horse jumping on the social media train and offering a viable low-cost alternative: SocialHIE(TM).
First, let’s take a look at how the HIE landscape is changing.
According to the 2011 eHealth Initiative report:
- Recorded HIE initiatives showed a 9% increase, up from 234 to 255 in 2011. A solid 1/3 of those initiatives are in advanced stages of development, meaning that they are a fully operational health information organization that is exchanging data between healthcare stakeholders.
- An emphasis has been placed on improving patient privacy controls and offering opt-in or opt-out at the data type level (i.e. lab results), individual data element level and/or sensitive data.
- HIEs are adding additional services to the network: streamlining administrative functions, offering workflow education and allowing access to provider databases. Some are even adding additional functionality such as billing and credentialing services previously left to the EHR/ PM applications.
- Sustainability still proves to be a challenge (for example, HIE in Iowa: ‘Someone’s Got to Pay for It’) as HIEs strive to cultivate operational revenues that remove their dependency on federal funding. That being said, 24 organizations in 2011, up from 18, met eHealth Initiative’s definition of sustainability.
- ACO participation is a little less decisive. Some HIE’s, by design, may be positioned to support accountable care organizations but the majority of HIE initiatives are unsure as to whether they will participate or not.
The full eHealth Initiative Report, titled “2011 Report on Health Information Exchange: A Changing Landscape” can be downloaded via the organization’s Web site at http://www.ehealthinitiative.org/
Along comes SocialHIE(TM) (iMedicor Trademark), harnessing the social media frenzy.
The first things that catch your eye regarding this solution are: low cost, quick to deploy and 100% ONC Meaningful Use compliant for interoperability. Couple that with the recent decision to incorporate an NHIN Direct solution within the existing HIPAA compliant platform in order to function as a HISP and you may just have hit the trifecta!
The addition of NHIN direct provides a secure mechanism for the transmission of patient data including records, images, test results, etc., which meets Meaningful Use compliance. Who can benefit from this solution? Potentially, any organization seeking a lower cost alternative to what is out there.
While this doesn’t eliminate the need for an EHR system, it may help ease the pain of the overall transition from paper and quickly facilitate secure communication of patient information.
Is this a solution with staying power as a more affordable alternative to HIE integration? Will others follow suit?
For more on this solution and where it is headed: http://govhealthit.com/blog/hie-services-added-social-media-platform
