Report Finds Paper-Based Strategies Still Critical to Successful Healthcare Information Exchange

Despite High Hospital Participation in Information Exchange, Robust Data Sharing Remains a Challenge
 
 
HIMSS Analytics
HIMSS Analytics
NAPLES, Fla. - Sept. 24, 2013 - PRLog -- CHICAGO (September 24, 2013) – Today, HIMSS Analytics released a new report on the barriers, challenges, and opportunities of healthcare information exchange (HIE). The report, sponsored by ASG, examines the current state of information exchange among U.S. hospitals and explores the opportunities for improving the collection and exchange of patient data.

Survey respondents – 157 senior hospital information technology (IT) executives – indicated that there are two major challenges in the collection and sharing of patient information despite high levels of HIE participation:

Healthcare facilities that are participating in some form of health information exchange organization (HIO) reported difficulties in exchanging patient information in robust, meaningful ways.
Additionally, respondents indicated sharing information outside of HIOs is constrained by budget limitations and staffing resources.

Over 70 percent of respondents reported that their organization was part of a HIO, meaning that they participate in HIE with other hospitals and health systems. Approximately half of those respondents also reported improved access to patient information. However, the benefit did not result in robust data sharing, as 49 percent of the respondents cited this as the primary challenge to sharing patient information.

“Based on high participation numbers, hospitals clearly understand the value of electronic sharing of health-related information among organizations and the important role it can play in improving the speed, quality, safety and cost of patient care,” said Jennifer Horowitz, senior director of research for HIMSS Analytics. “But meaningful engagement between healthcare organizations and easy ways to share patient information, both in paper and electronic formats, still remain a challenge. We hope this new report will shed light on those issues and help IT professionals integrate their HIE strategies with their output/print environments.”

Additional data exchange difficulties were reported in the modes by which facilities integrate faxed and scanned documents into EHRs for data exchange, or output/print strategies. Key findings include:

64 percent of the HIOs reported that sharing data with hospitals not participating in an HIO was conducted via fax
63 percent of the same HIOs processed faxed information into an electronic format via scanning
84 percent of respondents directly integrated their output/print environment with their EMR/HIS system
42 percent of respondents characterized their output/print environment as “high effort”

In most instances, faxing was only one part of a broader strategy for sharing patient information. Furthermore, respondents were concerned with strategies that relied heavily on faxing, with 22 percent indicating that Meaningful Use would have a high impact on this mode of HIE.

“The number one barrier to developing the ideal, integrated HIE and output/printing strategy is the fact that it falls to such a low priority in comparison to other strategic efforts,” said Theresa Kollath, vice president of information management line of business for ASG Software Solutions. “We are thrilled to see that HIMSS has addressed the importance of aligning both the electronic and paper record sharing systems in the study and is encouraging healthcare organizations to evaluate their overall strategy accordingly.”

To download the full report, visit: http://www.himssanalytics.org/research/AssetDetail.aspx?pubid=82108&tid=127.

To attend the October 14, 2013 webcast: https://marketplace.himss.org/OnlineStore/EventCenter/Meeting.aspx?ProductId=497608925.

About HIMSS Analytics

HIMSS Analytics is a wholly owned not-for-profit subsidiary of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society. The company collects and analyzes healthcare data related to IT processes and environments, products, IS department composition and costs, IS department management metrics, healthcare trends and purchase-related decisions. HIMSS Analytics delivers high quality data and analytical expertise to healthcare delivery organizations, healthcare IT companies, state governments, financial companies, pharmaceutical companies, and consulting firms.  Visit www.himssanalytics.org for more information.

About ASG

A recognized innovator in enterprise IT and business software solutions, ASG Software Solutions has been optimizing 85 percent of the world’s most complex IT organizations for over 25 years. We create and deploy unique software solutions that reduce cost, mitigate risk and improve service delivery throughout the IT lifecycle. ASG’s comprehensive solutions help you solve today’s challenges, such as cloud computing and big data, while driving your business forward by providing insight and control across cloud, distributed and mainframe environments.

ASG’s enterprise content management portfolio enables business users and infrastructure technology management of all skill levels to quickly and easily access, manage, and own all essential business information.

For more information, contact:

Joyce Lofstrom/HIMSS

312-915-9237

jlofstrom@himss.org

Victoria Khamsombath/SHIFT Communications

617-779-1828

himss@shiftcomm.com

Sarah C. Winner

239-435-2346

Sarah.Winner@asg.com
End
ASG Software Solutions News
Trending
Most Viewed
Daily News



Like PRLog?
9K2K1K
Click to Share