By Healthcare Facilities Today

A recent HIMSS Analytics report shows that health information exchange organizations still rely on paper and fax to provide data, according to a story on the Healthcare IT News website.

The report examines the state of information exchange among U.S. hospitals and looks for opportunities for improving the collection and exchange of patient data.

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”

According to the article, the survey found two major challenges in the collection and sharing of patient information:

• Healthcare facilities that are participating in some form of health information exchange organization reported difficulties in exchanging patient information in robust, meaningful ways.

• Respondents indicated sharing information outside of HIOs is constrained by budget limitations and staffing resources.

“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.”

Read the article.