For-profit, business-driven health information exchanges "are emerging as a rapid-deployment, cost-effective, sustainable alternative to" regional health information organizations, Elliott Menschik -- president of HxTechnologies, a developer of health information exchanges -- told the Capitol Hill Steering Committee on Telehealth and Healthcare Informatics on Thursday, Government Health IT reports.
The for-profit health data exchange model can deliver better, faster and cheaper results, Menschik said. He added that it makes business sense for health plans to sponsor health data exchange projects because the technology can help cut insurers' costs by reducing duplicative services and tests.
The current federal push for "altruism-driven" health information exchange is not successful because "the lowest common denominator approach paralyzes participants," he said.
In addition, the need to achieve consensus on every issue slows the process, and the fear of upsetting people means that actions with the greatest potential impact are avoided, Government Health IT reports. The health information exchange projects are dependent on grants that eventually end, leaving them without enough funding.
Menschik later said that substantial federal funding for health information exchanges would be a good alternative to the business-driven efforts he is advocating. However, federal financial support seems unlikely in the near future, he said.
Role of Federal Government
Menschik said CMS, like private insurers, should invest in health information exchange services to reduce redundant health care services, such as radiology and laboratory tests.
Medicare beneficiaries use radiological services at two or three times the rate of younger people, so if CMS began investing in health information exchanges, it could save so much money that "it could probably fund the [Nationwide Health Information Network] all by itself," Menschik said.
In addition, the federal government should leverage its power to accelerate adoption of standards endorsed by the Health IT Standards Panel and the Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise project, Menschik said. The federal government also should ensure that patients can obtain their electronic health records, he said (Ferris, Government Health IT, 5/8).