Most of health IT leaders feel that Health Information Exchange has flourished, while there are others who feel that there are not that many successful HIE organizations and in reality, successful exchange of health information has become an uphill struggle.

According to some recent reports, the global HIE market is projected to reach $900 million by 2018, showing a compound annual growth rate of 9.5%, compared to 2013. Government incentives, improvements in patient safety and patient care, along with reduction in healthcare costs, are the factors that are expected to drive this growth. However, there are other factors which might hinder the progress of the HIE market altogether. They include high implementation costs, slow ROI and interoperability issues.

Despite the fact that HIE technologies continue to grow in number, most of the healthcare leaders inside and outside the HIE organizations foresee problems on the horizon that may jeopardize the long-term success and stability of the concept.

A KLAS Research report from March, states that out of the 219 HIE providers surveyed, satisfaction with the solutions dropped an average of 8% since last year, as their demands continue to outgrow the pace of delivery by HIE vendors. The report says grants have been exhausted, public HIEs are struggling and vendors are struggling to deliver long-term value.

Vendors, providers and HIE leaders are all concerned. An industry leader says, “The vendors are still hesitant to make data available for HIE, because they don’t know what lies ahead.” From the vendors’ point of view, it is pretty clear that “winning” for some means, that others “lost.” However, in an ideal scenario, they need to come around to the idea of transparently sharing patient information, which puts patients more in control of their healthcare. Leading players in the market are so involved in their own systems that they are not really making it easy for the customers to pick and choose what they would like. They are not ready to give up their advantage just yet.

So what is the real reason behind such a huge difference of opinion between industry professionals? How could industry leaders differ so much on HIEs? It could be because health IT executives are adopting a wait-and-see approach. They want someone to take the first step, monitor it, and then see what it means for their organization.

There are plenty of reasons to be frustrated with the state of HIE at this point in time. However, CureMD believe that in the near future, HIE will be really important for both, the provider organizations and the patients they care for. Ensuring a complete longitudinal view of patient data across the entire healthcare continuum is almost becoming a prerequisite for improved clinical outcomes. So despite the uncertainty about whether or not HIE will be a success, one thing everyone can agree on, is that the industry continues to move towards population health management and risk-based care.