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eHI Foundation Launches Third Annual Survey of State, Regional and Community Health Information Exchange Initiatives

Posted on: Tuesday, 16 May 2006, 15:06 CDT

WASHINGTON, May 16 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, the eHealth Initiative Foundation (eHI) launched its third annual survey of state, regional and community-based health information exchange initiatives and organizations. The annual survey takes the pulse of progress of the more than 250 multi- stakeholder efforts across the country and tracks important trends.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050630/DCTH083LOGO )

Findings from the third annual survey will provide a comprehensive look at the current activities and maturation of health information exchange at the state, regional and community levels across the United States. And for the first time, the survey will also explore and report on planning, policy and implementation activities related to both health information technology and health information exchange occurring at the state level. This information will help inform public policy initiatives now underway as well as on-the- ground efforts by public and private sector stakeholders at the state, regional and community levels.

Health information exchange collaborators nationwide are encouraged to respond to the survey, which can be found at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=572462144737. Only organizations participating in the survey will be eligible to receive funding from eHI. Participants have four weeks to complete the survey. The deadline for submission of completed surveys is Tuesday, June 13th.

"We want to hear from all organizations involved in community, state and regional efforts," said Janet Marchibroda, chief executive officer of eHI. "Groups that are just beginning to convene various community stakeholders are as important to us as those which have moved further along toward implementing networks to mobilize data. Only through tracking of all community and state activities can we adequately evaluate progress toward the mobilization of health information technology to support improvements in health and healthcare. This year's survey also adds several questions designed to help leaders at the national, state and local levels understand what activities make sense at each level of the system."

Responses will be rolled up into both a national summary and a set of state and regional summaries highlighting the current state of health information exchange in the United States.

"Last year's survey tracked a dramatic increase in the level of interest in and activity related to health information exchange in regions across the country," Marchibroda said. "There is tremendous interest in pursuing electronic health information exchange at the community level and in Washington. A number of new efforts have recently emerged and we expect a large increase in the number of initiatives who respond to the survey this year. We look forward to analyzing how they have matured with respect to engagement of key stakeholders, organization and governance, functions and services offered, financing, and the development and execution of technical infrastructure to support their efforts."

In-depth value and financing questions have been added to the survey this year, Marchibroda said, including questions about participation in pay-for- performance programs such as Bridges to Excellence. New sections about practice transformation and state-level initiatives were also added, plus expanded questions about organization, governance and tax status.

The eHI survey has provided the broadest, most useful information about health information exchange efforts across the country, said J. Marc Overhage, MD, PhD, chief executive officer of the Indiana Health Information Exchange and co-chair of eHealth Initiative's Connecting Communities Working Group.

"It has informed public and private thinking and informed nearly every important deliberation on the subject," he said. "The survey's value derives from the broad representation and honest input from the communities that are doing this challenging and important work."

The survey will delve into key obstacles many on-the-ground efforts face, such as financing and overcoming concerns about privacy and security. It will also show how efforts are progressing in their charge to use health information technology to enhance health care quality and create savings by eliminating duplicative services and delivering information more effectively. Findings from the 2005 survey illuminated eHI's development and release this year of the eHealth Initiative Connecting Communities Toolkit, a structured, how-to synthesis of principles and tools designed to equip states, regions and local communities with the information and expertise to begin or advance local health information exchange initiatives and organizations.

Survey results will also help healthcare stakeholders (such as clinicians, health plans, healthcare purchasers, hospitals and other providers, laboratories, patient groups, public health agencies, and state and local government agencies) gain a greater understanding of the nature of these initiatives, key barriers to their implementation, and strategies to overcome those barriers, Marchibroda said. "It's extremely important to not only identify progress, but to understand the obstacles to success so these efforts can continue to advance," she said.

"Last year's survey indicated that efforts were becoming more formalized and were achieving more measurable results," Overhage said. "Updating these survey results will be important to demonstrate the progress that communities are making and to identify the areas where public and private organizations can focus their efforts in order to remove barriers and provide incentives to help communities move forward."

About eHealth Initiative and its Foundation

The eHealth Initiative and its Foundation are independent, non-profit affiliated organizations who engage the multiple stakeholders in healthcare, including clinicians, employers, health plans, healthcare IT suppliers, hospitals, laboratories, patient groups, pharmaceutical and medical device companies, pharmacies, and public health agencies, to improve the quality, safety, and efficiency of healthcare through information and information technology. For more information, go to http://www.ehealthinitiative.org/.

Additional Reading: For more information on eHI's 2005 "Emerging Trends and Issues in Health Information Exchange" go to: http://www.ehealthinitiative.org/keyhighlights.mspx

For information on the eHealth Initiative's "Connecting Communities Toolkit" go to: http://toolkit.ehealthinitiative.org/

Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050630/DCTH083LOGOAP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org/PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com

eHealth Initiative Foundation

CONTACT: Karla Hurter of the eHealth Initiative Foundation,+1-703-319-0957, khurter@health2resources.com

Web site: http://ehealthinitiative.org/http://toolkit.ehealthinitiative.org/http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=572462144737

Source: PRNewswire

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