The momentum for developing regional health information organizations and other health information exchanges is increasing, but the long-term business value of such networks remains unclear, according to a panel of health IT experts at the National Institute for Health Care Management Research and Education Foundation's one-day forum on RHIOs, Healthcare IT News reports.
Bruce Bradley - director for health care strategy and public policy for General Motors, which is participating in a project with Michigan's three largest insurers to get physicians to electronically send prescriptions - said GM "struggle[s] a lot with the value proposition." National Coordinator for Health IT Dr. David Brailer said "[t]he value is something that might not lead to monetization."
Dr. J. Marc Overhage, however, said the Indiana Health Information Exchange has saved $2 million annually by using electronic clinical messaging with providers in Central Indiana, and a project to share emergency department data has saved $10 per patient, per visit, Healthcare IT News reports.
Participants also had difficulty defining a business model that would sustain RHIOs and other health information exchange networks. Micky Tripathi, president and CEO of the Massachusetts eHealth Collaborative, noted that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to developing a data exchange business model (Broder, Healthcare IT News, 5/1).