Share on
State of
Interoperability
Executive insights from decision-makers in healthcare
Brought to you by
When it comes to health data, we’re at a crossroads.
Since the passage of the 21st Century Cures Act and the Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement (TEFCA), the directive has been clear — health information must be shared electronically with trusted parties.
But how are healthcare organizations shifting in response to the legislation? How do decision-makers across the industry feel about health information sharing in the context of the incentives that drive their businesses?
We surveyed executives across the healthcare ecosystem to find out.
We surveyed decision-makers across the healthcare ecosystem
Part 1
Health Systems
40 CIOs and CMIOs at top 50 health systems
Part 2
EHRs
25 VPs of Platform at top 20 EHR companies
Part3
Digital Health
65 venture-backed digital health product VPs and CTOs
Part4
Health Systems
31 VPs and CIOs at diagnostic vendors
Download the full report to inform your 2023 strategy
Advances in interoperability are resulting in major strategic shifts across many healthcare stakeholders, including provider organizations, EHRs, and digital health companies. We surveyed key decision-makers to:
- Understand how they’re navigating new regulations
- Understand what’s driving their data strategy
- Dive into potential barriers that may slow progress
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.
Select a Section
Part 1
Health Systems
The success of national health information exchange relies on broad participation from health systems, which produce the data that the rest of the ecosystem relies on. How are health systems accommodating the push for broader data exchange, and what are the obstacles that prevent progress?
Who did we survey?
40 CIOs and CMIOs
Top 50 health systems
Nearly every health system said they participate in HIEs to help providers get data faster.
Additional reasons for participating:
- Understand how they’re navigating new regulations
- Understand what’s driving their data strategy
- Dive into potential barriers that may slow progress
Nearly every health system said they participate in HIEs to help providers get data faster.
95%
Cited easier data retrieval and improving patient care as the primary reason.
Health system CIOs overwhelmingly support the Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement (TEFCA).
91
%
Were overwhelmingly supportive of TEFCA.
58
%
Expressed the need for more protection and guardrails around the data.
23%
Already comply with TEFCA
68%
Are working to comply with TEFCA
.svg)
A majority of health systems are working to comply with TEFCA in anticipation of reimbursement changes.
Most health systems support sharing patient data for purposes beyond treatment.
Support broad health information sharing for multiple permitted purposes, including individual access and payment and operations.
Currently share data for treatment purposes and plan to share data for individual access when required.
Will only share the minimum amount of data necessary to comply with regulatory demands.
Concerns about data security and patient privacy persist.
75
%
Reported data privacy and security as their primary concern.
65
%
Anticipate an additional burden on their IT staff.
Health system respondents were mixed about the quality of the data received through health information exchanges.
3% found the data to be perfect or near perfect quality
38% found the data to be good quality
50% found the data to be OK quality — some duplicative, incomplete, or junk data
8% found the data to be bad quality — lots of duplicative, incomplete, or junk data
3% found the data to be very bad quality — nearly all duplicative, incomplete or junk data
A majority of health systems respondents use data from health information exchanges to inform patient care.
.svg)
Over 50% of health system CIOs plan to spend 5-20% more on interoperability initiatives in 2023.
Download the full report to inform your 2023 strategy
Advances in interoperability are resulting in major strategic shifts across many healthcare stakeholders, including provider organizations, EHRs, and digital health companies. We surveyed key decision-makers to:
- Understand how they’re navigating new regulations
- Understand what’s driving their data strategy
- Dive into potential barriers that may slow progress
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.
Part 2
EHRs
Electronic health records (EHRs) are central to unlocking true interoperability. In light of an evolving regulatory landscape, EHR product executives are re-evaluating their data exchange strategy. Here's what we found.
Who did we survey?
25 VPs of Platform
Top 20 EHRs
Most EHRs participate in HIEs to make it easier for providers to retrieve medical records from third parties.
A majority of EHR respondents participate in CommonWell Health Alliance.
56% participate in
40% participate in
32% participate in
.png)
EHRs are interested in accessing non-traditional data types, like historical diagnostic data.
Most EHRs want to surface novel data types to providers at the point of care.
80% of EHR respondents want to make it easier for providers to get complete clinical records from third-parties.
EHR respondents report active engagement with their patient portals.
- 28% noted strong and frequent engagement from patients
- 44% noted good engagement from patients
- 24% noted some engagement from patients
- 4% indicated little to no interest from patients
Most EHR respondents are aware they will need to join a Qualified Health Information Network (QHIN), but only a third are prioritizing it.
20% are aware but awaiting additional information
8% don't have enough information to make a decision on QHIN
32% are aware we need to join a QHIN, but its not a priority right now
40% said joining a QHIN is a priority and we are actively exploring options
- 40% said joining a QHIN is a priority and we are actively exploring options
- 32% are aware we need to join a QHIN, but its not a priority right now
- 20% are aware but awaiting additional information
- 8% don't have enough information to make a decision on QHIN
Most EHRs expect to connect to a QHIN in 2023, but 16% of respondents said they’ll wait until they’re required to connect by law.
Download the full report to inform your 2023 strategy
Advances in interoperability are resulting in major strategic shifts across many healthcare stakeholders, including provider organizations, EHRs, and digital health companies. We surveyed key decision-makers to:
- Understand how they’re navigating new regulations
- Understand what’s driving their data strategy
- Dive into potential barriers that may slow progress
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.
Part 3
Digital Health
Many venture-backed startups have grown rapidly with the rise of value-based care models, requiring data to fuel their business models. By leaning away from commercial EHRs and towards custom platforms, new opportunities and challenges arise.
Who did we survey?
65 Product VPs and CTOs
Venture-backed health startups
Most digital health companies use HIE data to deliver patient care, but the list of use cases is expanding.
33% of digital health companies use a third-party intermediary vendor to get data from EHRs.
33% of digital health companies use a third-party intermediary vendor to get data from EHRs.
Respondents cited the following reasons for choosing a third-party connector:
- Accelerate our time to get data / provide better care
- Accelerate our product development timeline
- Get higher quality, de-duplicated, and/or actionable data
Digital health companies have multiple ways to retrieve EHR data.
By using a third party to access EHR data, respondents reported substantial time savings for their engineers, ranging from
3-6 months
58%
Have developed or are developing their own EHR platform.
Digital health companies don't license commercial EHRs.
Instead, they opt to build their own custom EHR platforms to drive innovative workflows, leveraging a connector to retrieve data from other EHRs.
The data isn’t perfect.
Incompleteness and gaps in the data are a persistent problem.
69%
Of digital health executives said there were gaps in the data they retrieved.
Digital health executives want access to claims data, pharmacy data, and other novel data types.
Download the full report to inform your 2023 strategy
Advances in interoperability are resulting in major strategic shifts across many healthcare stakeholders, including provider organizations, EHRs, and digital health companies. We surveyed key decision-makers to:
- Understand how they’re navigating new regulations
- Understand what’s driving their data strategy
- Dive into potential barriers that may slow progress
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.
Part 4
Diagnostic Labs
Diagnostic labs pose a unique challenge for achieving interoperability goals. There is debate in the community whether data from labs is subject to the same data sharing regulations as EHR data. Our findings show that labs continue to lag behind as participants in health information sharing.
Who did we survey?
31 VPs and CIOs
Large diagnostic labs
Labs aren’t interested in sharing data, yet.
Already share lab information with HIEs to comply with regulations.
Said data sharing was not a priority and they were unfamiliar with efforts from ONC to incentivize data sharing.
Are evaluating ways to share diagnostic information more broadly
Believe regulations do not impact diagnostic labs.
32% of labs do not contribute any data to an HIE, citing multiple reasons.
68% labs predominantly contribute to regional HIEs.
1 in 4 labs expect that diagnostic data will be subject to data sharing mandates in the next 1-3 years.
While most labs aren't sharing data today, they do anticipate that regulatory mandates will apply to labs in the near future.
Labs want access to EHR data on the patients they serve.
Respondents overwhelmingly indicated that they would benefit from real-time access to complete, identifiable patient data.
Download the full report to inform your 2023 strategy
Advances in interoperability are resulting in major strategic shifts across many healthcare stakeholders, including provider organizations, EHRs, and digital health companies. We surveyed key decision-makers to:
- Understand how they’re navigating new regulations
- Understand what’s driving their data strategy
- Dive into potential barriers that may slow progress
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.
