Although $560 million in federal funding for health information exchange soon will run out, the HIE market will continue to grow and evolve, according to a new Chilmark Research report, Healthcare IT News reports.
The report -- titled, "2012 HIE Market Report: Analysis and Trends" -- profiles 22 HIE vendors.
According to the report, HIE technology adoption is being driven by two factors:
- Proposed Stage 2 meaningful use requirements that put a bigger emphasis on health data exchange; and
- Reimbursement changes that will require health care organizations to support community-wide care coordination.
Changing HIE Market
The report notes that about one-third of the HIE vendors profiled in Chilmark's first HIE report in January 2011 have been acquired, merged or have left the market (Miliard, Healthcare IT News, 5/10).
Still, the HIE market grew by 40% in 2011, according to the report (Shaw, FierceHealthIT, 5/10).
John Moore -- founder and managing partner of Chilmark Research -- said, "Last year, we commented on an increasingly crowded and competitive market," adding, "Today's market is more competitive than ever, but just as immature as it was last year."
Challenges Remain
According to the report, most HIEs currently exchange only basic data sets, such as lab results and patient summaries.
Moore said, "Across the board, legacy systems fail to support true interoperability, and vendors are doing little to remedy this situation."
The report also notes that most vendors offer limited analytics and reporting capabilities. However, the researchers predict that the need for more robust analytical tools will increase as standards increase (Healthcare IT News, 5/10).