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National eHealth Collaborative Reveals Results Of Stakeholder Survey

Press Release | National eHealth Collaborative | February 25, 2011
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National eHealth Collaborative (NeHC) recently announced the results of its first ever Stakeholder Survey, identifying privacy and security, sustainability and funding as the top three pain points in health information exchange (HIE). NeHC established this survey initiative in December 2010 to encourage stakeholders across a wide range of specialties to contribute their suggestions on major concerns in health information exchange. NeHC's Stakeholder Survey also solicited opinions on the issues that are in greatest need of information distribution or are best primed for collaborative projects to develop innovative solutions.

"From the perspective of a collaboration among healthcare organizations that are facing many of the barriers identified in this survey, I believe that NeHC is making a substantial contribution by bringing these issues to light and encouraging the key sectors in the health IT marketplace to focus on producing collaborative solutions. This survey is just the beginning of an invaluable dialogue about what we need to do to achieve a sustainable and robust nationwide health information exchange," said Holt Anderson, Executive Director of the North Carolina Healthcare Information and Communications Alliance (NCHICA) and member of the NeHC Board of Directors.

NeHC's call for comment elicited responses from a fairly balanced distribution of stakeholder interests. Participants spanned the private and public sectors, representing the following stakeholder areas:

  • Healthcare Providers: 21.8%
  • Government: 16.4%
  • Consultants: 13.9%
  • Other (Consumers/Advocacy, Administrative, Population Health, Clinical Research, etc.): 12.1%
  • Health Information Organization: 10.9%
  • Vendor: 10.3%

Among the questions answered in the survey, respondent data strongly suggested that a number of concerns and opinions are shared widely across the stakeholder spectrum:

The issues that over 80% of stakeholders agreed were most likely to potentially derail health information exchange were identified as:

  • Privacy and Security: 46%
  • Sustainability: 21%
  • Funding: 15%

More than 60% of the issues in HIE causing the greatest concern were in three areas:

  • Privacy and Security: 30%
  • Adoption and Use: 16%
  • Sustainability: 14%

More than 60% of stakeholders indicated that the most-requested issues on which they would like to receive regular updates due to the constantly-changing environment in HIE are:

  • Governance: 23%
  • Privacy and Security: 19%
  • Legislative Barriers and Regulations: 19%

The solutions that 60% of stakeholders indicated that they were most willing to collaborate on are:

  • Adoption and Use: 21%
  • Privacy and Security: 20%
  • Governance: 19%

"Through this survey, NeHC is playing an important role in getting all stakeholders in the health information exchange effort on the same page to focus on common problems and common goals. 

Talking about these results will help to encourage stakeholders from across the health IT community to share solutions and best practices with one another so that we can reach our national goals for health IT," said Michael Lardiere, LCSW, Director, Health Information Technology and Senior Advisor, Behavioral Health for the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC) and NeHC Board member.

NeHC will share these survey results and solicit feedback from stakeholders on its conclusions at its Healthcare Information Management Systems Society (HIMSS) Annual Conference Education Session – Session 153, Wednesday, February 23, at 9:45 am in 330D of the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, FL. The session will feature NeHC CEO Kate Berry and four members of the NeHC Board of Directors: Holt Anderson of NCHICA; Michael Lardiere of NACHC; Lori Evans Bernstein, President of GSI Health; and Chuck Parker, Executive Director of the Continua Health Alliance.

NeHC will also make the results of its Stakeholder Survey widely available via its website – www.NationaleHealth.org – and will use the results and stakeholder feedback to inform the further development of its 2011 Stakeholder Forums and NHIN University stakeholder education programs. 

"NeHC looks forward to bringing stakeholders together in ways that can help our community reach consensus on solutions to address these barriers," said NeHC CEO Kate Berry.