Health Information Exchanges Face Significant Financial Challenges

John Pulley | Nextgov | November 19, 2012

Concerns about competition could undercut development and long-term sustainability of health information exchanges, according to preliminary findings of a survey by the eHealth Initiative.

Of 126 exchanges that responded to the group’s 2012 survey, 36 said competition from other HIEs was an important challenge, and 50 worried about competition from health IT vendors with exchange capabilities. More than half said stakeholders’ concerns could potentially have an impact on their participation in exchanges, according to the preliminary findings.

“Given the importance of stakeholder buy-in to sustainability, competition between data exchanges and health IT vendors over smaller stakeholder populations could impact development in the area,” the initiative said. “Similarly, these findings suggest that some stakeholders may not engage in data exchange because of fear of losing revenue . . . It will be important for groups to create secure technical infrastructure and policies that can help allay fears from stakeholders.”...